It Went Downhill From There
by Cap10
Summary: When a Jumper crashed on planet in the middle of a ice age, time is limited to rescue the crew and bring them back alive. Now time is running out and people are starting to die. Epilogue: Healing
1. Prolog: It Went Downhill From There

_**Author's Note**-I do not own Atlantis or it's characters. This story is dedicated to A. L. Ross. We are sort of co-writing it. Hope you enjoy it._

"It is beautiful out there." The young male biologist looked wide eyed out the windshield into the clear blue sky that stretched above white ice landscape.

"It is just snowy; did you get enough of that Antarctica?" The marine behind him asked annoyed.

"Actually this is different." For one of the first times the pilot spoke up. "Antarctica is under a permanent ice sheet and is located at the pole. We are located about midway between the equator and the pole, it is just this planet is in an Ice Age."

"So you are alive up there Nat. Stephen and I were starting to think you had gone to sleep." The marine tried to joke with his Air Force counter part.

"Would you stop it Gary? You know that I am new at flying this thing. I have to tell you it does take a lot of concentration if you have a weak ATA gene score."

"You were certified to fly this thing, right?" Stephen Larsen asked unsure.

"Yes I was certified, well at least as much as you can get in here in the Pegasus Galaxy. And if we run into a problem Stackhouse's team is in the other Jumper. They can pick us up."

"Do you always have to call the team by the pilot name? I mean most people call it by the name of military commander."

"So our team would go by the same name, I out rank you."

"True but…" Turbulent hit the craft hard. "Nat, what is going on?"

"I don't know." Natalie Covington turned her full focus flying, while Stephen grabbed his computer tablet and started fiddling with it. "As far as I can tell we have hit an energy field. All of the controls are going haywire." She tried continuing to fiddle with the controls. "This is working. Everyone brace for impact."

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"I mean, everyone can see that Sheppard likes…Whoa, we just lost Jumper 4." Stackhouse was started back to the controls.

"What happened?" Zelenka came up and sat down in the co-pilots seat.

"I don't know. I think there was a flash of energy and it disappeared from censors."

"Let me look at the readings…On great. Stackhouse turn us around we need to get back to the gate."

"What is going on, shouldn't we go to help them."

"The same thing that is happening now, as what happened on M7G-677." Looking the confused look on Stackhouse and the other marines faces. "The planet that Ford keeps calling planet Kid Kill. Anyway there was a shield that dampers electronics, so they have probably crashed. We need to get back to Atlantis to stage a rescue." Stackhouse looked out window at the snow covered landscape.

"I will see if this thing can go any faster."


	2. Chapter 1: Those Are Skis

_Mild spolers for Childhood's End._

On Atlantis the Stargate spiraled into life and a wormhole sprang forth.

"Unauthorized of world activation." Chuck the Canadian Technician was already looking at his computer screen. "Receiving Dr. Zelenka IDC."

"Let them through." Dr. Elizabeth Weir took up usually place by the window of the control room to watch the Jumper come through the event horizon. Jumper 5 came through and then the wormhole disengaged. "Jumper 5 where is Jumper 4."

"Elizabeth," Zelenka voice cracked over the radio. "We have a little bit of a problem. Do you remember the dampening field on M7G-667?"

"Yes the planet with all of the children. What happened?"

"Well you speculated that there might be more of these dampening fields to protect human societies. Turns out you were right. I believe that Jumper 4 ran into another field and crashed. Normally I wouldn't be that worried about them but M6B-115 in a planet currently in the middle of an Ice Age and they don't have the equipment required to survive in that climate."

"Oh, Sheppard, report to the control room immediately we have a situation."

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"So we have lost two soldiers and a scientist in the middle of a freezer, and they are possibly injured. Why aren't we out there?" Sheppard asked.

"Because the average temperature is below zero." Mckay spat back.

"Celsius or Fahrenheit?"

"Um," Mckay looked flustered. "Both."

"So if it that cold how are we going to out there?"

"I have already had Dr. Thomason track down all of the available winter equipment on Atlantis. You will be splitting into two groups. Sheppard will be in charge of the rescue team. Mckay you are going to be on the team that will deactivate the dampening field." Weir explained.

"But it is cold out there." Mckay grumbled.

Weir ignored him and continued. "We hope that your team can stabilize them until Mckay can deactivate the field, so you can fly Jumper 4 out."

"Do I get to pick who is on my team?" Sheppard asked.

"Not really. Because of the unusual conditions we only have limited staff with the need skills, and they have to be extremely physically fit to survive this. Your team leaves in an hour. I expect you to be at the gate, you too Rodney."

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The Gateroom was field with people in puffy snow clothing. Some people you could barely see over there clothing. Sheppard could easily pick out Mckay. He was the one wearing the bright red parka with the maple leaf on the back, he was also complaining loudly. Teyla was standing next to him holding a forest green parka in her arms.

"Your looking good, Teyla." Sheppard entered the group wearing his regulation black.

"Thank you, Colonel." Teyla replied quickly, while in her own mind she thought she looked ridiculous. Before the conversation Dr. Thomason waved Sheppard over.

"Hello Sheppard, time to pick a parka. Sorry that isn't much of a selection." She motioned at the available selection which included a pink ski coat, Russian hockey jacket and a teal parka with fir lining. "Would you mind if you used the hockey jacket? It is Dr. Zelenka's and I doubt Ronan would fit in it."

"Sure," Sheppard picked up the hockey jacket. "Dr. Z. likes hockey, why am I not shocked."

Dr. Thomason then waved Ronon over and handed him the teal parka. Sheppard tried to keep himself from laughing seeing the look on Ronon's face looking at the strange article of clothing. He tried to hand it back, but she refused and some how got him to keep it. At that time the only two Ex-navy SEALS on staff came into the Gateroom pulling two sleds heaped with supplies and with skis stacked on top.

"We got the equipment, Bec." Timothy Hendricks was one of only people who looked like he fit in his black parka; the second was his partner Eric Cooper who was wearing a matching parka.

"What are those?" Ronon was pointing at skis on the sleds.

"Those are skis." Tim offered.

"What do you do with them?" Ronon was puzzled with the thin pieces of metal and plastic.

"You put them on your feet and use them to walk on snow." Tim said, and Ronon gave him a look that seemed to say, you earthlings are really weird sometimes.

"It might work better if we show you." Sheppard add.

"Right."

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Sheppard was the first to step through the gate. Snow was slowly drifting down out of the grey skies. Ronon followed quickly, then the Tim and Eric travel through pulling the sleds. Bec and a marine, a Lt. Lark, brought up the end.

"Time to get everyone in skis," Bec was already pulling the skis off the sleds. "We have to types of skis. I would like to put Tim and Eric in the downhill skis with the skins on them. Everyone else will be on the cross country skis. Any questions?"

"Wasn't I in charge?" Sheppard asked, the short scientist.

"Yes…Oh, the people that loaned us the equipment threatened to trashes the lab if I didn't bring it back in one piece." She laughed a little embarrassed while zipping up her coat. "Sorry."

"No, it is fine." Sheppard looked over his shoulder to see Eric Cooper helping Ronon strap on his skis. "I didn't know that we had this type of equipment on Atlantis."

"We were planning a ski trip later this year. Every time the Daedalus came we requested another piece of snow equipment. I have never been more glad some of the people wanted to learn to ski." Bec handed Sheppard his skis and he started to think maybe he should have joined the ski club. Number one he really wasn't good at skiing, number two he would have normal black skis like the SEALS instead of the white and rainbow skis which Miko had ordered.

"We have limited sunlight. I suggest we start moving." Timothy was already strapped on one of the sleds. Eric was getting ready to strap into the second sled.

"Eric, would you mind if play ski instructor. You said you taught you nieces how to cross country. Someone is going to have to bring Sheppard and Ronan up to speed. Lt. Lark knows enough to pull the sled for now."

"Wait," Sheppard was mentally adding things up. "Now if Hendricks and Lark are pulling, Eric teaching, and Ronan and I are learning how to ski, what are you doing?"

Bec strapped on a pair of snow runners. "I am taking point, so I can try to prevent you guys from skiing off cliffs."

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"What are we waiting for? I am getting hot." Mckay wined to no one in particular.

"We are waiting for Dr. Weir to finish a negotiation for several sets of what you call snowshoes, and if you are truly as warm as you say, why don't you take of your parka?" Teyla was sitting by the window in the cafeteria her winter clothing heaped in a pile beside her.

"I wish we could go and be done with it." Mckay crossed his arms across his chest.

"I was under the impression that Canada was a cold place, thus Canadians must like the cold."

"What is it with people believing just because you were born in a cold climate that you must like the snow? For goodness sakes it is not like we live in the wilderness. We have cities and everyone has indoor heating. To put it simply, I was born, raised, and lived in the indoor Canada."

"I apologies, I did not realize it was a touchy subject." Teyla was about to ask more about this 'indoor Canada,' but was stopped by a call over the radio from Chuck the tech.

"Sorry if I am interrupting anything, but Dr. Weir just came through the gate and she has secured the snowshoes. Everyone in rescue team two please report to the Gateroom immediately."

"Why does Sheppard always get to be team one?" Mckay started to grumble as he walked cafeteria.

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_**Author's note**-Hello again, I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I would like to try to make everyone happy so tips would be helpful. Warning this story is going to be a little more dark then the other two, but SGA-1 will be playing a much bigger role and of course there will be plenty of whumping to go around._

Skins_-a cover you put on downhill skis to allow you to travel up hill with them._

Snow Runners_-a small modified snow shoe that gives the wearer more mobility and speed but require more energy and training to use._


	3. Chapter 2: Rotten Snow

"Nat, come on Nat. Lt. Natalie M. Covington, WAKE UP!" Nat just groaned, as Gary tried to shake her gently awake.

"Is she okay?" Stephen Larsen sat pale and frightened his broke leg was laying limp across the ceiling.

"I don't know." Gary tried to straighten up, failed and settled for sinking to the metal of the craft.

"Are you alright?" Stephen asked nervously.

"I am fine, just sore."

"If you are just sore, then you got off easy."

"I must be lucky." Gary leaned back in against the wall and looked out the window. It really was amazing that no one was dead. After all Nat had managed to flip a jumper in the middle of a snowfield. Something which Gary didn't even know it was possible, until they were spinning out of control. It was a miracle any of them were alive. He was going to have to report her driving to Colonel's Sheppard, as soon as he and the rest of SGA-1 managed to come and rescue them.

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The first hour went great. It was downhill relatively smooth. Good terrain to learn on, but for the second hour of travel they hit a wind swept area of glacier valley. It was hard work dragging the sleds up and down the hillocks that the wind had sculpted out of the dry snow. Every fourth or fifth hillock, which were about three or four meters, was wind crested with iced snow leaving a brittle layer that would collapse when someone stepped on it, causing them to slide quickly to down the other side. Usually Bec got that honor.

On one of these slides, Bec didn't bother to get back up. "What do you say if we take a water brake?" She started to pull out some food packs. "You can pick from gorp, energy bars or commercial carb paste."

"Don't you think we should keep going a little farther before stopping?" Sheppard asked. "I mean I am really not hunger."

"Okay who here is tired and/or hungry?" Eric and Tim quickly raised their hands; Lt. Lark timidly half raised his hand. Ronon looked at her and sat down.

"See, we are ready for a break, and it is going to take us at least twenty four hours to get to were Zelenka thinks they crashed. We have got to keep hydrated, and keep eating. Also it is about time to switch the people pulling the sleds."

Sheppard nodded, "I guess it is my turn to try the sled."

"Good, you're seeing the light." Tim said tore open a pack of carb paste and squeezed a chunk into his mouth.

"What does that mean?" Sheppard questioned tearing of the tab of his carb paste.

"It means that you are finally learning the rules of winter rescue." Eric stated. "It is quite simple, you share the work, you pay attention to the person who has the most experience in that type of situation, never ignore your lead when they tell you to move, and take care of yourself. That way the rescuers can hopefully avoid becoming the rescuees."

"Taking care of yourself includes things like drinking water, eating and sleeping. Seeing we are at a higher altitude then normal and we are skipping sleeping to night, we need to increase are carb intake." Bec added.

"Since when did you guys become such experts?" Sheppard, a little surprised that the only civilian was taking charge.

"Well I can't talk for the others, but I think it happened when I did my master thesis on one of coldest locations in the continental US." Bec looked at here own container of paste. "Everyone ready?"

Most of the guys nodded. Break time was over, and everyone grabbed one more swallow of water to wash down the sickening sweet carb-paste before standing up. Bec took point again, this time Eric is pulling the short tethered sled while Sheppard followed with the second sled. They headed gain over hills of snow. All of a sudden they heard a sharp curse and Sheppard looked up just in time to see Bec disappear.

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"I told you it would be cold." Mckay was not a happy camper.

"You have told us that already." Teyla said, starting to get slightly annoyed.

"Umpteen times." Jason Wage, the geologist who had taken the lead, said after his breath.

"That is enough." Albert Johnston, the geologist that was in charge. "Mckay, are we still going out in the right direction."

"Um," Mckay looked at his compass. "Not really we need to go more that way." Mckay waved his hand towards the mountains, not really looking at what he was pointing at. Many of the marines looked at teach other shaking their heads.

"Hey, Dr. Z." Wage broke the silence. "You have been pretty quiet. Something on your mind?"

Radek looked up at the scientist, then went back to staring at his snow shoe covered feet. "I am fine. This is just tiring."

"Tell you what Dr. Z. hold up for another fifteen minutes or so and we will stop for a water break." Albert said cheerfully. Thank goodness we have relatively flat terrain he thought. We are dragging a bunch of scientist totally out of their comfort zones. It will be a miracle if we get them back without half a dozen sprained ankles and a couple sprain knees to match.

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"BEC! Are you okay?" Sheppard yelled while Tim already started stripping of his skis and started crawling on his belly towards the crevice. He looked down the whole Dr. Thomason had accidentally punched through the snow.

"I am not seeing any movement. I think she has been knocked unconscious, but I am seeing blood. She is face down in the snow, and I think another layer of snow must of broken loss during her fall. It is covering her legs. Eric, have you gotten the ropes out yet?" Tim was talking urgently.

"What happened?" Sheppard questioned.

"Rotten snow." Lt. Lark said flatly as if that explained everything. He helped pulling out coils of rope. "Who is going down there?" Everyone volunteered.

"Let's try another way. Okay, Ronon I think you would be a really good anchored." Tim took command.

"What do I do?" Ronon asked, not knowing what an 'anchor' was suppose to do.

"Basically, you stand there. Hold onto the rope and prevent the person on the rope from plummeting to there death. Eric and I will stay on the rope and belay. Which means either Sheppard or Lark gets the honor of being on the rope. Now which one of you is better at free repelling?"

Lark looked like a deer in the headlights, panic and skittish. Sheppard spoke up. "I guess that would be me." He drawled. "As you probably noticed I have been hanging out with your geologist friends."

"Yes, we have watched you learning to repel off the spires of Atlantis. Do you think that will be close enough?"

Sheppard glanced back at the hole in the snow. "I think that it is going to have to be."

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_**Author's Note**-Things are getting interesting. (evil laugh) But are you enjoying it. Please tell me how to improve. I would also like to warn everyone that I will not be able to post very often in the next three weeks. I just found out I need to do two lectures instead of one at the conference I am going to. On the bright side I am flying across the Atlantic so should have plenty of time to write on the plane._

Gorp_-A name for trail mix which contains nuts, M & M's, and some type of grain product like pretzels, small crackers or granola._

Carb Paste_-A gel like substance that has hundred calories in it. It is really sweet and in my opinion tastes really nasty, but when you are doing extremely physical sports like mountain climbing, cross country biking, or skiing over difficult terrain for long period of time. _

Rotten Snow_-A thin layer of snow covering a crevice or hole. When you are walking over it, it looks like normal snow but you can easily fall through falling into the crevice below._


	4. Chapter 3: Zelenka is sick?

Bec knew that walking up and down the snow banks was physically demanding, but she hadn't thought that she was that out of shape. She was almost glad she had taken the lead; she didn't have to pull any of the sleds. It also gave her a level of control; because she was smaller she usually could just roll out of falls preventing other people injury.

After their snack break Bec took up her lead again. Up the hill and down the hill and rising in front of you is yet another hill to climb. Reaching on of the first crests she sensed something was wrong. She took another step forward and heard a crunch. Bec swore as the snow gave way and she was in free fall, clawing at the surrounding ice as she fell.

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Natalie looked up at Corporal Gary Richard's pale face. Blinked. "Corporal, are you alright?"

"Nat, you're awake. You finally decided to join us." Gary moved slowly and painfully towards her, and spoke to someone in the distance. "Stephen, she is awake. She is going to be okay."

"Are you alright?" Natalie's question seemed to bring back Gary's attention.

"Yay, I am fine, just sore. Something heavy kind of fell on Steve's leg," he glanced over made a ducking action with his head, "Sorry, something heavy fell on _Stephen's_ leg. It is broken. You whacked your head pretty bad. And why does he keep looking at me like that when I call him Steve?"

"You know how Colonel Sheppard has a habit of naming the Wraith."

"Yes." Gary was obviously confused.

"It turns out one of the most famous Wraith he named Steve." Natalie's eyes started to drop close

"Oh." Gary voice turned sterner and he touch her cheek. "Nat, stay with us. You need to stay awake."

"What happen?" Natalie was starting to drift off fast.

"You flipped the jumper. I didn't know it was possible to do that, but it bested any roller coaster I have ever been on…"

"Gary."

"Yes, Nat."

"Are you alright?" Natalie blinked her eyes heavily and they slid closed.

"Yes, we're fine." Gary whispered as he smoothed the emergency blanket draped over the injured pilot. "Everything will be okay."

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"Is there anyway that we can get there any faster?" Mckay feet were cold. That was what he hated most about northerly latitudes; you just can't keep your toes warm. Plus the fact they were moving up a mountain which probably had more snow at the top made him more cranky.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Dr. Jason Wage replied.

"What makes you think that I would know?"

"You are the navigator."

"Oh." Mckay looked down at his compass again. "That doesn't mean I know where we are going."

One of the marines joked. "That's a scary thought." Almost everyone laughed. Mckay glared at them.

"Why don't you concentrate on walking instead of talking? Maybe we would get there faster." Teyla offered diplomatically.

"I have plenty of IQ to concentrate on both…" Mckay was going into pout mode.

"Zelenka?!" Dr. Johnston quickly rushed his fellow scientist who was turning a pale shade of green tinged with blue and was doubling over.

"Dr. Z, are you okay?"

"Sick, going to be sick…" Zelenka then began to regurgitate his breakfast and the two power bars that had been snacks earlier in the day.

"Is he okay? He is going to be okay, right?" Mckay asked from were he was standing behind one of the sleds.

"He will be fine, Mckay." Wage said authoritatively. "Zelenka," he tone softened. "Radek, didn't you already have the flu?" Zelenka nodded, but that just seemed to increase his nausea. "Don't worry it will be getting dark soon. We needed to stop anyway and make camp." Wage nodded at the Marines at his command. "Albert, Teyla, your job is to help Dr. Z, everyone else lets set up camp."

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"I see movement." Eric Cooper relayed. "I think she might be awake."

"That's good. It at least means that she didn't manage to kill herself." Harsh words but there was relief in Tim's voice.

"Yes, she moving I think she is trying to turn herself over. How long 'til we can send Sheppard down?"

"Sheppard's in the harness." Lt. Lark said brightly. "We also have Ronon anchored in. We can send the Colonel down as soon as you guys get hooked up to the rope."

"Let's rescue our way ward hydrologist." Sheppard said decisively.

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Everything was cold and white and painful. Bec was so winded she didn't feel like moving. So she just laid there, blood trickling across her face, trying to keep from passing out. There was muffled noise above her and she decided she better move. Tim was probably panicking. The weight of snow on her legs prevented her from turning over fully. But she moved onto her side to try to look up at the sky above her. Bec coughed choking on the warm liquid filling her mouth. She spit and spit out blood. Tim is not going to be happy she thought as lay still looking up at the sky trying to focus.

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"How is he doing?" Wage peeked into the tent that they had moved Zelenka into. "Feeling any better?"

"I believe not." Teyla sat next to ill scientist who bundled in a mummy bag and finally drifted off to sleep. "If anything I think he is feeling worst."

"At least he as stop vomiting." Albert stated from is seat in the corner. "What do you think cased it?"

"Radek already had caught this year's flu, and if it was food poisoning more people would have been affected. He would also have a fever." Teyla she tucked her hands into her sleeves to warm her long fingers.

Wage thought hard, crouching in the entrance of the tent. "Albert, go get the full first aid kit." He said sternly.

"Jason, you have an idea what is going on don't you." Dr. Johnston knew that look in his fellow geologist eye.

"I think I might know what is going on, but boy I hope I am wrong. Just get the first aid kit." Wage intense gaze sent Albert out the tent and into the snow.

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_**Author's Note**-I am sorry that I have not posted in a while; you can't say I didn't warn you. But now you have the mystery of what is making Zelenka sick to keep you entertained. Your clue is it helps explain why Radek doesn't like going through the gate. Let's see if anyone can guess it. (Evil Laugh) Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon, and with how bad it is snowing out, there is the possibility I could get snowed in and have plenty of time to write. _


	5. Chapter 4: Nurse

Wage quickly started unzip the layers that were wrapped around Zelenka, when Radek started to wake.

"Hey, Dr. Z, how are you feeling?"

"Sick." The Czech really did look bad, but Wage wasn't going to say anything.

"I know this is hard, but I need you to explain what type of sick you feel."

Radek seem to loss focus and closed his eyes. "Nauseas, headache, dizzy." He mumbled. Wage continued to strip of layers, and he was pulling off the gloves on Radek's hands.

"Do you know what is causing this illness?" Teyla asked.

"I am pretty sure. Dr. Z, I need you to answer another question for me. Have you ever felt this way on earth? Such as did you ever have similar headaches or nausea in Colorado?"

Zelenka seemed like he was trying to pick things out of a fog. "Yes, I felt nausea in Colorado. I just thought it was too much bad American coffee."

"Thank you, Z you can go back to sleep now. We are going to get some medication to help you feel better and get you back home." Boy I stink at this, Wage thought while rubbing Zelenka's bluish finger tips before placing back into the glove.

"Others." Zelenka croaked eyes dropping shut.

"Don't work Dr. Z worry we will finish the mission. Everything will work out great, now that we hit this mission's hitch everything should be smooth sailing from here."

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It was harder to repel down the ice cliffs then repelling off the spires of the city. The ice shards were also surprisingly sharp; Sheppard had already sliced through one of his gloves. Finally he reached the compacted snow at the bottom of the crevasse.

"I have reached the bottom. Can you give me more rope?" John heard mumbling above him and a few more loops of rope plopped down beside him. He headed towards the half buried Bec, carefully skirting along the ice cliff because he was unsure where her feet were under the snow. "Dr. Thomason, you still with us?"

"Last time I checked." Sheppard was surprised when he got a response.

"How are you doing? Have you taken inventory yet?" Sheppard edge closer to Bec's head and was ready to pull out the first aid kit and call for help.

"Not bad considering." Pained blue eyes stared through her frosted eye lashes. "As far as I can tell nothing is broken, but I am pretty sure I sprained my wrist. I also bit through my lip." Bec finally pulled her right hand away from her bottom lip showing her chin smeared with blood.

"It doesn't look that bad." Sheppard offered as he started to dig out her legs.

"Liar."

"How would you know?" Sheppard continued to dig.

"You can't even see it. I can tell when my face is caked with blood." Bec was once again pressing her hand against the lip trying to stem the bleeding.

"How would you know how that would feel?" John figured that conversation would keep Bec distracted, while he shoved snow out of the way.

"Experience."

"I knew you were accident prone, but that is a little much."

"Please Sheppard I don't tell me about being accident prone. Last time I checked you were defiantly leading the Atlantis in time spent in the infirmary."

"You got that off of Radek's tally didn't you?" Two could play at this game. "Aren't you also on that list?"

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"Gary, are you alright, you sure that you don't want some Tylenol?" Stephen asked nervously from the corner.

"I am fine, do you need anything?" Gary asked from his place were he laid on the ceiling looking at the floor. It was really weird. "I can get you some water."

"No, I am fine. Nat?" Stephen was the only person sitting and looked over to pilot.

"I am good." Nat continued to stare at the floor. A moment later she added. "You know what; I am really bad at this waiting thing."

"Me, too." Gary added.

"Me, three. Have any idea's?" Stephen leaned his head back.

"Not really, maybe we should sleep." Nat suggested.

"I guess that's what we will have to do." Gary said stretched out on the ceiling and closed his eyes willing is back to stop hurting.

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"Albert, have you found the oxygen yet?" Wage yelled out of the in the tent flap, inside he could hear Zelenka wheezing.

"I am looking. I think someone must have packed it on the bottom of the sleds!" Dr. Johnston was looking trough the piles of equipment.

"Well get some of the marines to help you look, and can you get me a few of those chemical heat packs?"

"Will do. Have you figured a diagnosis?"

"I think so. The oxygen will show if I am right and I really hope I am wrong, cause if I am right we dealing with something life threatening." Wage ducked back into the tent and sat down next to the once again sleeping Zelenka.

"You're worried aren't you?" Teyla looked softly at the geologist.

"Yes, I am worried. I kind of get put in charge of a mission and it goes down the drain. It is starting to remind me of the first time I brought by girl friend mountain climbing in Grand Teton National Park. Boy that trip holds bad memories. I hope this doesn't become a repeat."

"Is there anything I would like to talk about?"

"Not really, maybe on Atlantis."

"Found the oxygen." Albert peeked his head back into the tent.

"Good. Let's get Dr. Z started on it."

"Do you think it will work?" Teyla asked.

"I a pretty sure it will." Wage started clipping the equipment together and slipped a mask on Zelenka's still face. Slowly he turned the oxygen on low, sat on his heel and waited. It was the only thing they could do.

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_**Author's Note**-Hello readers I am very glad you have been enjoying the story so far. No one picked up on what was making Zelenka sick, so here are more clues. Next chapter, the diagnosis. _


	6. Chapter 5: Different Paths

"Foot!" Bec shouted at Sheppard. He stopped and looked at her puzzled.

"What?" Sheppard voice seemed to ask, did I hear you right?

"Foot. You were trying to shovel through my foot and it hurts." Bec looked up defiantly.

"Oh. I will try to be more careful." Sheppard went back to digging know that he had a landmark.

"You better." Bec spat back.

"How 'bout you try to move your legs again? I have cleared away quite a bit of snow maybe you can wiggle your legs free this time." Sheppard suggested.

"Fine," Bec wiggled her foot and got most of her right leg clear. "You happy?"

"Is it just me or is she getting more grumpy?" Tim Hendricks yelled down.

"No." Bec said decisively.

"Yes." Sheppard said a split second later. "And I probably correct because I am not the one who is getting sarcastic."

"I am always sarcastic."

"You could have fooled me, try your foot again." Sheppard finished pushing a stack of snow out of the way again.

Bec didn't even bother replying she just hissed as she pulled her other foot free and moved to sit up. With a bit of Sheppard's help she leaned against the icy wall.

"Thanks." She breathed.

"No problem. Let's get you out of here." Sheppard looked up at the sky. "You guys ready to pull us up?"

"When ever you're ready," Tim shouted back.

"Then let's get this over with." Bec moved to stand up and Sheppard hurried to help her.

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It was silent except for the hiss of oxygen, but there was a level of relief. The color was starting to return to Zelenka's face. No longer was his face blue and he was breathing smoothly. Radek was also finally sleeping comfortably.

"It looks like you were right." Teyla said quietly. "How did you know what it was?"

"I have seen it before." Wage shifted in his seat. "It is actually very common on earth. It is call Altitude sickness. It happens when some ascends to fast, but the reason I was asking if he had had problems like this before is I needed to know if he is prone to it. I think he is probably sensitive to altitude, which is one of the reasons he hates going of world. The reason I was so worried is because we don't know what the relive pressure is here. If it is similar to being above 3000 meters or 10,000 feet on earth then it can lead to really bad problems."

"Like what?" Doctor Mckay looked worried.

"Coma or death." Wage noted an almost panicked look from Mckay. "But that is really rare, and if any of us were going to have problems we would have already shown symptoms."

"Oh, but what are we going to do? You said that it was caused by altitude problems. Don't we need to get him to a lower altitude?"

"Yes, Mckay. That is why we are going to be splitting up into two groups."

"What, but why?" Mckay was sure he wouldn't like the answer.

"Simple we need to get Zelenka to the gate, but we also need to deactivate that dampening field. That means Teyla and some marines will be taking Radek back to Atlantis. Albert, me, the rest of the marines and of course you will be continuing through dampening field."

"Is this the best way?" Teyla said nervously.

"It is the only way. Zelenka will be fine as long as we keep him on oxygen, but we only have a day or so left before it runs out. We need to get him out. He will just be a liability in the group. Anyway, he was just a back up for Mckay. We can keep him safe."

"When should we leave?"

"You will stay the night here. It will give Zelenka a chance to rest before the journey back. It will also keep him from getting frost bite. I know he is use to colder climates, but I don't want to risk it. Mckay and the rest of us will be leaving with in the hour."

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Things were starting to get blurry, man did I hit my head, and Stephen Larsen blinked twice and breathed as deeply as his bruised body to would allow.

"Stephen you awake." Gary was sounding hoarse.

"Ya, I am awake. Wish I wasn't."

"Know how you feel." There was a pause.

"Hey, Gary how is Natalie?"

"She doesn't look red hot. I have done what I could, but I don't know if it is enough. She hasn't woken up in a while."

"Gee, I hope she is okay."

"So do I. So do I." And with that Stephen drifted back of to sleep and Gary stretched out and stared at the floor above him.

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"Bec, are you sure you are okay?"

"Yes, Tim I am fine. Will you please pass me my med kit and the mirror?" Tim dug through Bec's pack.

"I thought you said you were fine." Sheppard commented head cocked.

"I am fine, but I bit through my lip and I need to clean it."

"Doesn't it need stitches?" Lt. Lark looked unsure. "I mean when got a cut like that I had to get stitches and if she needs stitches who is going to do it, because isn't Bec the only medic in the group?"

"She doesn't need stitches." Eric added.

"Ya, she will just get a scar." Tim said, "It is no big deal."

"I am not going to get scar." Bec was looking at herself in the mirror placed in the snow and cleaner her face with an alcohol wipe.

"What?" Tim said. "I hate to break it to you but you will probably get nice scar."

"But don't worry," Sheppard added quickly. "Most people like scars. It gives you personality."

"I am not going to get a scar." Bec had a small tube in her hands and was looking at the mirror breathing calmly.

"Bec, did you hit your head on the way down or…" Tim started but stopped when he heard Bec breath in sharply. "Bec you okay?"

"I am fine." Bec's voice was tight with pain. "Would you stop asking?" Breath slightly ragged.

"You sure you are okay?" Tim knelt in front of Bec pulling of his gloves.

"What did you do?" Lark asked a little shocked.

"I super glued the cut shut." Bec was obviously trying to keep from screaming out.

"You did what?" It was Sheppard this time.

"I superglued the cut shut. You know superglue. You can use it to glue skin together and it work really great for small injuries that would usually required to stitches." Bec's hands were fidgeting. "Only down side is it stings like the dickens."

"That really great to know but who carries around superglue in the Pegasus Galaxy?" Sheppard said sarcastically.

"I do." Bec said promptly. "You know what let's get moving so you guys can stop acting like, such…Lepidopterists."

"Bec?" Sheppard asked, behind him Tim was trying to burst out laughing. "What?"

"Well, we just got insulted." Tim was smiling broadly

"What?"

"Bec's an entomologist, and to them well a Lepidopterist is a person who tries to, well it is an insult."

"Oh."

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Teyla stands in the cold the wind gently pushes the fake fir lining of her parka on her face as she watches the other half of her group prepares to leave.

"You are sure you are ready to do this?" She asked unsure what to do as one of the team leader.

"No I am not sure." Mckay said hotly.

"What he means by that is he is absolutely sure. _Right_?" Wage came up placing a hand on Mckay's should.

"Fine, fine." Mckay was obviously annoyed with the predicament, but there isn't anything he could do. Wage had been lecturing him on why they had to do this, but that didn't make him feel any better. He hated the cold.

"Well we are all packed up. We are heading out. You feeling okay?"

Teyla nodded and she watched as Mckay, Wage, Albert, and two marines headed out into the out across the snow and out of sight.

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They had walked in complete silence for over a half hour. Bec had insisted on talking the lead again and after a bit of walking Bec had proven that was faster then any of the others. Bec slipped a few more times the guys asked if she was okay again, but now they started passing out of the wind swept hillocks and onto this strange flat land. It finally felt like they were making progress as the sun began to set.

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**Author's note**-_Sorry for taking so long. I had limited internet access over the winter break. Rodney, my computer Rodney, has been in the shop getting fixed. So you get a extra long chapter today. Now to the more educational note nwfairy correctly named Zelenka's illness. It was altitude sickness and yes you can die if you are prone to the problem. It is caused when the body cannot get enough oxygen. Everyone would get altitude sickness if you go high enough fast enough, but adjust to altitudes helps most people. If you get it the only solution is to drop altitude. If you can't do that immediately the best thing to do is get them on oxygen._

_Second note, the term Lepidopterist is used to describe an entomologist who is not really serious. It is a term for someone who collects butterflies. In Bec's case she is calling them amateurs. It is similar to calling a caver a spelunker. Because a spelunker is a person who walks into a cave wearing a tank top and shorts guided only by one of those one use flashlights. They crawl under a stalactites and stand up. Their head goes spelunk and they are a spelunker. _


	7. Chapter 6: It Gets Worse

Stephen tried to take a deep breath, but his lungs felt tight almost on fire. He gasps, and opens his eyes. Something was very wrong and he couldn't put his finger on it. It was just a hunch, one of those butterflies in the stomach moments. He knew what was going on, but the meaning seemed to float just out of reached of his pain fogged mind. He felt him self slipping into unconsciousness, he knew what he was thing about was important. It just he couldn't grasp it. His eye's slipped close and his world was fading to black.

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"Time to stop." Wage yelled from the front, and the solemn line of people halted behind him. "Time to pull out your lights, red lenses, goggles too. I think thing we might be in for some wind."

Mckay was standing there slightly winded, and shivering a bit. "You okay buddy?" Albert asked. Rodney just looked annoyed as he slipped his goggles over his eyes and turned on his headlamp.

"Everyone I ready." Wage asked.

"No." Mckay stated.

"Why would that be?"

"I cold." Rodney spoke from the part of the human mind which is primitive. The part which forces us to survive.

"It's okay Dr. Mckay." One of the marines patted him on the back while Albert tore open a chemical heating pack.

"Mckay, don't think of it like that. Just don't think of yourself as cold. Think that the faster you walk the sooner that you will get warm." Wage said as Albert slipped the heating pack into Mckay's gloves. Mckay started to move. "That's it. The faster we move, the sooner that we will get warm."

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"Hey, Bec, wait up." Sheppard tried to keep up, but the hydrologist was skiing at full speed and hadn't spoken a word for over an hour and a half. Dusk was fading and the stars were filling the sky. By now Sheppard was exhausted, Lark was about fall over, the Navy SEALS had stopped joking around, and even Ronan looked winded.

"Yes?" Bec stopped, and stretched her neck and looked at Sheppard, well more looked through Sheppard.

"We need to stop."

"Okay." Bec sat down in the snow.

Lt. Lark motioned at her and whispered to Tim Hendricks. "Is it just me or is she acting weird?"

"Migraine. Possibly a concussion. Don't worry, once we get to the place she will think clearly." Tim said quickly. "I have seen her do it before. She seems like she is about to pass out and she will still be able to climb a mountain or navigate a deep sea sub through a dangerous sent of currents."

"Everybody eat something." Sheppard was defiantly taking charge and he made sure everyone was pealing open their containers of Gorp. Bec was zoned out munching on the nuts and dried fruit. But the temperature was continuing to drop and they need to get moving again.

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The wind was starting to pick up as Teyla huddled in the tent with three marines. The fourth was outside keeping watch, but soon it would probably be to cold for that. Teyla was worried about the other teams out on the snow. She shivered just thinking about them, but there was nothing she could do, no matter how her heartaches to do so.

"It sounds like a storm is brewing." Dr. Zelenka muttered quietly.

"You're awake." Teyla smiled down at her charge.

"Yes, I am awake." But his eyes were starting to slide close again. "When are we breaking camp?"

"In the morning, rest until then." Teyla said sweetly, and the scientist obeys his eyes closed and soon his breaths slowed. Leaving Teyla and marines in silence listening to the wind beat upon the fabric of the tent.

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This time it was Bec who stopped and apparently for no reason. Instead of the huge hillocks the land in front seemed to just contain snow drifts. Other then that it was flat.

"What is it Dr. Thomason?" Lt. Lark asked and the group got closer to where she was poised not moving.

"Ice." Was all she needed to say in return.

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Stephen woke with a start and understood what was going on. The reason his head felt all stuffed up and the fact his thoughts were muffled. It was CO2, he was going to suffocate. They were all going to suffocate. Stephen didn't want to die period so dieing on this forsaken, ice planet in the middle of nowhere. They were going to have to open the door.

"Gary, Gary wake up. Please wake up." Stephen pleated to the unresponsive marine.

"What, what is going on?" Natalie groaned.

"We crashed, do you remember that?" Stephen asked worried.

"We crashed?" Natalie's words slurred, she seemed disoriented.

"Yes, yes we crashed. Can you try to nudge Gary? He isn't moving, I am starting to get worried." I am worried about you too; in fact, I am worried that we are all about to die.

"Gary is here? What is wrong with him?"

"Gary is right next to you. I think he might be really hurt."

"Okay, let me get this start. We crashed and Gary's hurt. Why aren't you helping to him?"

"Because I broke my leg. I can't move." Stephen was starting to get frustrated. "Oh, did I mention that I think we are running out of air!?!"

"No." Natalie was struggling to sit up. "We are running out of air?"

"Just check on Gary. Maybe we can get him up?" And he will probably be coherent and we might actually survive.

"Okay." Nat said as she made her way slowly to the fallen Marine. "Um."

"What is wrong?" Stephen started to panic.

"Um, I think that he is in shock." She spoke in a strange detached way.

Can things get any worst, but as soon as Stephen thought that he regret it, it could always get worse. "Nat, Natalie listen to me. I want you to try to open the door."

"Um," Nat said as she started to fiddle with the door. "This is bad."

"What is wrong?" Stephen asked again.

"Well. The door feels like the door is frozen shut."

"Stop, stop." Nat paused throwing herself at the door. "If the door is really frozen shut then there is nothing that we can do about that. Natalie, I think it would be best if you could take care of Gary, see if we can get him to wake up." Natalie blessedly didn't complain, she just found the first aid kit and started treating Gary leaving Stephen with his thoughts which were-We are so screwed. We are going to die.

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**Author's Note**-_From bad to worse, but don't worry things will get better, eventually. Please give feedback to tell me were I should improve, or things you would like to read about. If I don't find a way to fit them in this story there is always the next one._

_Because Bec gets migraines I thought I might give you a little information about it. Migraines are repeating headaches which often had cause nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. It is often treated by medication and sleeping it of. Some people who got frequent migraine appear to go on autopilot when they have a severe migraine. Sometime being described as zombie like. _


	8. Chapter 7: The Snows Came

"Has anyone else noticed that our head lamps that are not on?" A marine commented from near the back of the line.

"I noticed that too." Another marine spoke up.

"I am an idiot." Albert said flatly. "Flashlights use electricity. Nothing that uses electricity works on this stupid planet."

"We will be okay. We will walk until we can't see and then I will pull out the glow sticks." Wage said over his shoulder. Mckay groaned. Annoyances is a positive sign, Wage thought. That means he is warming up.

"So we are going to keep going?" A marine asked.

"Yep," Wage answered. "The skies are pretty clear and the moons are high. We should be fine. Anyway we need to keep moving to say warm." So they have kept walking the wind blowing flecks of ice at there faces, and it became dark. And they walked by the lights of the stars and three small moons.

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"What should we do?" Sheppard asked as Bec

"I think we are going to have to get across the ice." Tim commented. "But what direction should we head?"

"There," Bec pointed and the people around her squinted were she was pointing and they saw a small dark speck surrounded by snow.

"Do you thing that is a way word jumper?" Sheppard questioned.

"It is not part of this landscape."

"She said yes." Tim quickly added.

"So we need to get out to the jumper, across a frozen lake?" Sheppard tried to clarify.

"Marsh, I think that is more of a bog like marsh." Bec said absent mindedly listening to the ground as she stepped gingerly forward.

"Is that going to help us?"

"Yes it means that there are islands. All I we have to do is find our way across the thick ice." Bec stripped off her skis and sunk knee deep in snow. "Hand me the rope, Tim."

"What are you doing?" Lt. Lark asked in confusion.

"I am finding a way across. And unless one of you have done this before and weigh less then hundred and fifty then you are not going out on the ice." Bec put her hand up. "Listen, if any of us make a miss step they could end up dead."

Sheppard nodded. "Be careful."

Bec made eye contact, nodded and headed across the ice. For one of the first times in her life she was glad for the sensitivity to light and sound caused by those pesky migraines. It let her see the shadows in the snow caused by the refection of the stars, and it let her listen to the crunch of snow, prepared to react to the crack of ice beneath her feet.

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"He is in shock." Natalie was starting to get panicky. "What should I do? I am frightened." But no one was there to hear her. Gary was slowly slipping away and she had no clue how to save him, she could even figure out what was wrong with him. Stephen on the other hand was lying against the wall passed out from pain.

No longer was her military training enough to deal with the situation. For the first time in her life she was truly frightened. She was alone with a head injury, one of her closest friends dieing in her arms, and she could not do anything about it.

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The wind had started picking up and the sky started to darken. Tendrils of clouds started to claw at the stars, splotching them out one by one. But even against the driving blown snow they had made good time. The mountains they were walking to now loomed in front of them.

Albert made his way to the front of the line. "Wage, I think there is a storm coming in. We are going to need to stop soon."

"I know, but Teyla has the good tents. The canvas tents will not be able to stand up to the wind her on the plains. We have to get to those mountains before we can stop and make camp."

"They aren't going to like that."

"We don't have much of a choice. We will tell them when we break to eat." Wage stopped and yelled over his shoulder. "Snack break." Marines started piled up pulling out power bars and water. "Now I know you are not going to be happy about this. But it looks like a storm is coming in and we need to get to those mountains before it gets bad." And as if on cue, the snow started to fall.

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Big heavy flakes were wafting though the air, each buffeted by the wind. It dragged visibility down to mere feet. The only way to find it the path the Bec had plowed throw though the snow was holding your glow stick out in front of you letting it glare across the ground, following on the right side of the trudge marks. The rope that they were clipped onto was the only thing that connected them to the rest of the world.

Once they made it to the island Bec had found, they tugged hard four times on the rope to tell the next person it was safe to move across the ice. The next person would appear from the snow after a few minuets that seemed like an eternity. It was repeated until everyone was on the right side of the ice.

It went without a hitch for a while. Bec would make it to an island and the others would follow. The order they took across was different each time, mostly because no one wanted to be the last person across. Being last meant that you would have to be alone twice as long. That leg of the journey ended when they pulled the two sleds across.

They were at the sixth island and it was Lt. Larks turn to go last. In the white world he stepped on his ski causing him to fall over. Arms out to catch himself, one of his arms punched through the ice into the artic water. The sleds were tugged after him as he fell on the rope, the weight of one marine, and two sleds caused the ice to creak under the weight.

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Teyla was huddled in the tent wind flatting it on one side howling across the fabric. She could hear the ice flicking on the tent. A marine got up and a rush of cold air tasseled her hair as he relived the marine outside. The chilled marine peeled off his gloves blowing into his fingers. He nodded at Teyla as he sat; she quietly nodded back, beside her Zelenka slept on.

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**Author's Note**-_Multiple cliffhanger. Hope that you enjoyed. I promise that Sheppard and Mckay's groups journeying will come to an end in the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I am glad that you have enjoyed it so far. _

_Here is your factoid for the chapter. The two worst things you can do in if you are ever trapped on a planet in the middle of an ice age are stop moving or get wet. When you stop moving you lose heat and your circulation system shuts down increasing the risk of frost bite to your extremities. Now if you get wet it helps your body cool faster. This means you need to avoid getting wet at all cost this includes sweating, stepping through ice, or dumping a water bottle over one's head. Tricks to survive getting wet in really could environments will be found in the next chapter._


	9. Chapter 8: White Out

Elizabeth Weir was standing in the control room looking down on the gate. Every hour they dialed the ice planet in hope that Rodney had managed to turn off the dampening field, but so far they just were getting the current weather reports from the planet. As far as they could tell it was snowing hard. She didn't hear Dr. Carson Beckett come up behind her.

"You should get some sleep, love." Carson said softly.

"I will get some sleep a little later." She looked over her shoulder at him. "Do you think they are alright? I mean do you think they will be alright through the storm?"

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"Something's wrong." Bec said, head slightly cocked to one side.

"What is it?" Tim asked.

"I heard water. I shouldn't be hearing water. Lark's in trouble." Bec turned to Sheppard wide eyed. "I think the sleds got loose as well. The ice is creaking. If we don't do something fast, then is a possibility that Lark could die."

"We need to get Lark off the ice before it breaks." Sheppard said decisively.

"We need to get some of the weight off of the ice so one of you guys can get him off the ice." Bec corrected.

"Lark is tethered to the sleds. We are going to have to send someone out on the ice cut the rope and pull them off the ice." Ronon spoke up. "And the person who does that has to be light."

"Bec?" Sheppard looked at the significantly smaller female in the group.

She was not looking forward to it. "I weigh at least half as much as you guys do, so I guess I will be the one who goes out." Bec looked at Sheppard.

"Once you get the ice cleared pull hard on the rope a few times so we know it is safe to come out on the ice."

"Only one of you." She grumbled. "The ice wants to give out as it is." Bec started crawling across the snow covered ice and was soon out of the small circle of light caste by the glow sticks.

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"Wage, I think you need to talk to him." Albert pointed down the line towards Mckay. "He doesn't look right."

"Okay, you take the lead. Try to walk as straight as you can because we will never be able to figure out if we are walking in circles, until the snow stops. Lets get to the mountains before it stops snowing so we can get some sleep." Wage said, before pausing and allowing half the line to pass by him. "Hey, Dr. Mckay what is up?" Mckay looked blankly at him. "You feeling alright? You're not coming down with something are you?"

"No, I am fine." He said sharply.

Rodney not complaining sets of warning bells in almost all who know him. Wage really didn't know Mckay that well, but his boss was a medic told him that Beckett told them to keep an eye on Mckay if he stopped complaining. It didn't make much sense to him then and it didn't make anymore sense to him now but if Beckett had told the medics to do that, he might as well do it to.

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"How long do you think it will take her to get that done?" Eric asked.

"I don't know." Tim replied, just as a sharp tug pulled the rope. Unprepared for the force Tim and Sheppard nearly slid over onto the ice. "Think that was our sign." Tim looked down at his hands and winced. "Did she have to pull so hard?" He turned to see Sheppard heading out across the ice crawling on his belly.

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Gary stopped breathing and a few moments later his heart stopped. Natalie started CPR. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…twenty-nine, thirty compressions followed by two breaths. Thirty compressions, two breaths. She repeated it over and over. Between each repeat she would check to see if his heart was beating, if he had started breathing. The only changes she felt were in his chest. She felt as his ribs cracked beneath her fingers. But she just kept going. Thirty compressions and two breaths.

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"Whoa, I think the ice is breaking up." Tim almost yelled. Everyone could now hear the sharp snapping sound as the ice started to break up. "Everyone braces on the rope we may need to drag our people in."

Ronon, Eric and Tim tried to give steady resistance on the rope as the weight on the other end. It was only minuets but is seemed like hours, but eventually they could see Sheppard flatted against the ices practically dragging a ghostly pale Lark. A short ways behind them, dragging in the snow was the raggedly end of the rope.

"What happened?" Eric looked wide eyed at the end of the rope.

"The ice broke." Sheppard said panting from the exertion. "The sharp pull we felt was the sleds being sucked under the water." Sheppard closed his eyes remembering the black water, the rope cutting downward on the ice next to the edge. "Lark here was laying mostly on the ice shivering. There was a big gap of open water. I didn't see Dr. Thomason." He left the sentence open, but everyone knew what he meant.

"We need to get him out of his wet cloths and see if we can get him warmed up." Tim commented quietly, the word _I didn't see Dr. Thomason_, echoed in his brain.

"Ya." Sheppard replied still on laying on the snow next to Lark.

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It was white out conditions and everyone in Wage's team wished that they were inside, but it was snowing too hard for their tents to hold up so they keep walking hoping to find a more sheltered. Albert was still in the lead followed by a few marines, the Wage and Mckay followed by the last two marines. The people in the back kept an eye on each other so no one falls behind. All of a sudden they all heard something like a yell and the first to people in the front of the line disappeared. Wage ran up to the front to figure out what was going on. He looked down in the hole in the snow, and was relieved to see Albert smiling up at him.

"Hey, Wage. Think I found a cave."

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Within a few minuets they had stripped Lark down to his underwear and wrapped him in a sleeping bag with several chemical heat packs ace bandaged to his chest. They had quickly dismissed the idea of sharing body heat because there skin was just as cold as Lark's and they only had one person sleeping bags. Ronon and Eric were clearing out a small snow cave while Tim and Sheppard sorted through the stuff that they had in their light backs.

They spread it across the snow. All together they each had a sleeping bag, four MREs a piece, Bec's full first aid kit, _she had left her pack with them before she headed out to cut free the sleds, _everyone but Lark had a change of cloths, _he had lost his pack while on the ice_. They did not have any tents, cooking equipment, most of their chemical heating packs, and most of their food. Now unable to travel because of hypothermic member of the team and missing one of there own, it looked like Sheppard's team were also in need of being rescued.

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Over a half hour later Natalie's arms gave out. She tried to keep going, but she couldn't. So she stopped CPR, cradled Gary head in her lap, and cried. She felt as his skin grew cold and she felt as her hope faded. She cried herself to sleep still gently holding his head, not knowing that the people who were sent to rescue them were camped only seventhly-five or so meters away unable to see the jumper through the driving snow.

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**Author's Note**-_I am sorry for the death, but it happens in the reality. You may yell at me and Rodney (my computer Rodney of course) if you so desire. I will admit it was hard on me to write it. Now for the promised facts on what to do if you get wet in the artic. Simple you have to strip off your wet cloths and put on dry clothing. If you are conscious keep moving. If they are unconscious then you need to provide external heat. That can be in the form of another's body heat, heating packs, or a fire. In real life the fire option is usually the best because the rescuer is usually really cold, and you may not have heating packs with you. _

_Second interesting fact for today, did you know that Ronon roughly translates to rogue warrior in Japanese? I think the name fit him._


	10. Chapter 9: A Little Push

"Great Albert," Wage looked concerned. "Either of you get hurt?"

Albert looked the marine beside him, the marine shook his head. "Doesn't look like it. We just kind of slid down into the cave."

"Great, is there air circulation down there?"

"Yep there is a nice little breeze, but it warm compared with what we just went through. It is quite nice." Albert had already removed his gloves and was pulling off his hat.

"You might want to clear out from below the slide thingy. I think we are about to head in."

"'Kay, I will see you down here." Albert smiled as he and the marine moved out of the way.

"Wait, we are going down there?" Mckay had made it to the front and was eyeing the hole suspiciously.

"Yes, we are going down into the hole." Several marines had already slid down and Wage pushed down the sled. "It is either that or freeze."

Mckay at that moment was actually think freezing might not be a bad way out, but before he could voice that opinion Wage had given him a sharp push sending him over the edge.

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Four and a half men were trying to fit into the snow cave which on a normal day might fit three. At this point the Sheppard was the current person that was halfway out Eric was on other far side. Lark in his sleeping bag was squished between Eric and Ronon, who was quickly discovering that he didn't like the cold. Tim and Sheppard were taking turns guarding the doorway, blocking the snow and wind from getting into the snow cave, and keeping an eye on the packs. Whenever the outside person would get to cold to stay out there he would tap the other switch places and try to get a few minutes of shut eye. I was a fairly rough night on everyone.

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"What was that for?" Mckay glared at Wage as soon he slid down beside him.

"You weren't moving." Wage said simply as he brushed off the snow from his pants and walked towards Albert and the marines who were out of the column of snow falling through the hole.

"But." Mckay glared even at Wage. "You didn't warn me that hurt." Mckay was still sanding in the column of snow rubbing his sore rear end.

"That is what you get for procrastinating." One of the marines said smartly.

"I would let you know I was not procrastination."

"That is enough." Albert said.

"Yep, it time for to set up camp." Wage was already starting to pull out the tents.

"What? We are going to camp in a cave?" Mckay asked in distress.

"Yes, it is sheltered, plus it is warmer then outside."

"But it is a cave."

"Yes, Mckay it is a cave and we are going deeper." Wage said forcefully.

"Why?"

"Look up. See how the parts of the ceiling are white. White generally means that it is snow. The last thing we need is to have the roof come down on our heads. We are going to head into the rocks."

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Another few hours had past and they were dialing the planet once again.

"Connection made." Chuck the gate tech worked the controls. "I am not picking up any radio signals, but it does look like I need to change the weather report. It looks like the snow is starting to lighten up. I now have seven or eight feet of visibility. Hopefully it will help the rescue crews."

"Yes, hopefully." Weir said looking back towards the stargate hoping this hole incident would be over in a few hours.

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Mckay felt like he was suffocating in his tent, he had to get out. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and tent only to find crushing darkness outside his tent and light of his glow stick.

"Close the tent flap." Someone hissed at him.

"Why should I? It will be dark then." Mckay questioned.

"Just trust me, Mckay." Wage whispered. "Trust me it will be worth it."

"Fine." Mckay heard the tearing sound that zippers make when you quickly zip them. "You happy now?"

"Now look up." At first Mckay didn't see anything. It was just dark, but slowly flecks of light started to appear like stars, slowly twinkle into view across the high domed ceiling. "Wow," he breathed unconsciously.

"Yeah, wow. See caves aren't all bad." Wage stretched then looked back up to the ceiling.

There was something in the tone Wage used that made Mckay ask. "What makes you say that?"

"That caves aren't bad. Simple I like…"

"No that I didn't like caves."

"Simple, a lot of people who are claustrophobic dislike caves. Yes I knew you were claustrophobic. Remember the time I dragged you through the vents. You weren't as bad as Eaton, but you were still pretty freaked out. Similar to the way you freaked out in the snow storm out there."

"Oh," Mckay said seated on the ground a few feet from Wage.

"You know what? I think I need to share a story with you. When I was nine I was of the dark. My family live in New Zealand on a fairly big piece of property and I use to play in the forest that our home bordered. One evening after school I was playing and I fell into a cave. It was dark and I was terrified that it was closing in on me. I kept staring at the little sliver of sky above me…"

"How is this going to make me feel any better?"

"Mckay, I haven't finished the story yet. Well I kept looking up at the sliver of sky and the sunset. Almost the time I plunged into darkness, I noticed that I was surrounded by tiny little lights. I had fallen into a glowworm cave. It felt like I was surrounded by thousands stars protecting me. I got over my fear the dark and now I study caves for a living."

"Wage, that still doesn't make me feel any better."

"Well it was worth a try." Wage said brightly as he got up. "Well it is time to get everyone up. You can help put tell them to leave their glow sticks in their tents."

"Why would you want them to do that?"

"Well in a cave you eyes will adjust to the level of light that exists. I think it would be a lot more effective to the glowworms or whatever they are to help us see. They give us much better picture of the surroundings then the glow sticks. I have discovered glow sticks are only about effective as a lightning bug on a leash." Wage started banging on the tents. Within a half hour everything was packed up and there eyes were adjusted to the dim lights. The with Wage in the lead they took the most important supplies on there back and travel in a line along the winding paths carved in the rock.

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**Author's Note**-_Hello everyone, thank you so much for reading. Next chapter will have more to do with Sheppard's team, it is just a little bit hard to travel when you are squishing a whole bunch of people in a snow cave. Now for you're information tidbits of the chapter. Caves are naturally purely dark, which means that you eyes will never be able to adjust because there is no light. It is also really cool. When it is that dark you can actually see where you are going using the dial on a digital watch. Yes, I have actually done that before and it really works._


	11. Chapter 10: Jumper Found

The snow was finally starting to lighten up and they sky was starting to turn a slightly paler shade of gray. Lark in the snow cave was breathing steadily, but Sheppard knew that they were going to have to find a more protected area to stay.

"Okay people. It starting to stop snowing we need to find some real shelter before nightfall." Sheppard said on his turn inside the snow cave.

"How are you suggesting we do this?" Eric asked.

"Simple. Me and Ronon, if he is up to it, will go out into the snow and try to find a better place camp."

"I am up to it." Ronon said decidedly.

"Well then we will go out into the snow to look and find a place to stay the night. We will follow our tracks back and get you guys."

"You sure that would work. After all," Tim soberly tried to think how to phase it, "We already have lost Bec. We can't afford to loss anymore equipment or anyone else."

"I am not planning on losing anyone else. That is why Ronon and I are going. After all I don't know if it is possible to get loss."

"Good luck then," Tim said knowing that there was nothing he could say would change Sheppard's mind. Sheppard nodded zipped up his jacket and headed out into the snow. After they were a fair way from the snow cave Sheppard and Ronon decided to split up to cover more ground they head in opposite directions in hope to find some place to hide from the storm.

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Mckay didn't know how long he had been wondering around in this cave in the dark. True the little glowwormy things made it look like the ceiling was covered in stars, but that didn't change the fact it was carved out the rock using carbonic acid, and that ceiling could suddenly come down at any moment.

"Mckay you're starting to hyperventilate, again. Do we need to stop, again?" Albert asked mildly annoyed.

"I am fine." Mckay grumbled.

"Which means it is time to stop." Wage said from his point scouting the tunnels in front of them.

"Why?" It was Mckay's turn to be annoyed.

"Simple both Sheppard and Carson warned me, as soon as you stopped complain and lecturing that you were going to die, I should start getting worried for you safety."

Mckay uttered frustrated sound that every translated to mean that none of them wanted to be Carson or Sheppard when they got back to Atlantis.

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It had been a bad few hours for Bec. First she had gone out on the ice, cut one sled free dragged it to the island. Then when she went back out for the second sled she had heard the ice cracking, then crumble under her body. This is bad she thought trying to crawl quickly off the ice while spreading her weight out. One of her knees punched through the ice soaking her pant leg in frozen water. Bec ignored it pulling her leg out of the water and trying to crawl faster across the ice towards safety. She made it to the sled and turned to see the ice breaking up behind her. Just lovely, she though sarcastically, I am stuck alone on an island, wet, and on a planet in the middle of an ice age. Can life get worse?

Well, Dr. Thomason didn't have any desire to die, so she kept moving. She started to franticly dig through the sled trying to find some dry cloths or some heat packs or something to warm her up. At this point she would have been happy to have one of those strange horned things from Star Wars that Solo cut open to keep Luke warm. She probably wouldn't even have cared about the smell. After a few minutes digging, Bec found a package of winter cloths that they had packed for the people they were rescuing. She striped of the wet pants and under layers which were now freezing stiff, and pulled on a pair of guy's military fatigues. She was shivering violently so she grabbed some heat packs. Stuffed them into the many sizes to big boots pulled on a pair of socks and put them on. Once she was dressed in dry clothing she followed the next rule don't stop moving.

So Bec somewhat incoherently pulled the sled of supplies across the snow.

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Ronon walked across the winter landscape, trying to be in tune with everything that surrounded him. He missed something. A very large cat like creature had bedded down in the wind shadow of a snow drift. Rounding it both individuals was shocked. The Ronon moved first, he shot at the creature. The shots impacted the cat's chest. The cat hissed but didn't stop. It lunged at Ronon racking its claws across his body.

Ronon looked up at the beast on top of him its jaws ready to crush his neck, when he heard a loud cracking noise and the beast collapsed on top of him spilling brains and blood across his parka.

Ronon looked up in time to see Bec knelling in the snow shakily holding a 9mm in her hands.

"Hi, Ronon." She muttered before collapsing face down in the snow.

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The wind was letting up when Telya peeked her head out of the tent. Little ice flakes were fluttering through the gray landscape.

"How does it look out there?" Zelenka asked hoarsely.

Teyla spun to see Radek looking back at her. "I am sorry I did not see you were awake."

"Do you thing they are okay?" Zelenka pulled the oxygen mask of his face.

"They should be okay. After all they have several people who have lived in these climates, don't they?" Teyla said softly.

"Yes, the do." Zelenka took a deep breath from the oxygen mask, then continued. "Hopefully that will be enough."

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"Ow."

"You okay Mckay?" Wage asked from the front of the line.

"No." Mckay said. "I think I broke my foot."

"It is called you hit a rock, Mckay." A marine halfway through the line almost yelled at Mckay.

"Mckay can you walk on it?" Albert asked.

"Yes." He pouted. "But that doesn't mean that I have to enjoy it." Unlike you I didn't have any choice about coming on this mission. I hate this.

"We know that, Mckay." Another marine piped in.

"Mckay just last another half hour or so and we will take another break I promise." Wage said diplomatically.

"Fine." Mckay said and the whole group laps again into science and continued to tread through the darkness.

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Tim looked up from his watch in front of the cave when he heard what sounded like someone running through the snow. He saw Ronon in a full sprint towards them, red liberally painting the front of his shirt and a large bundle in his arms. It took Tim a moment to reliaze that he was also dragging one of the two sleds. Be for Tim could ask about it Ronon was upon him, and thrusting the limp package into his arms. He pushed away some of the layers of cloth to see the blue lipped face of his CO. He turned to Ronon who was clearly not feeling to red hot, even though Tim doubted that Ronon would ever admit that, and asked a pointless question in relief.

"You found Bec?"

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Sheppard continued to walk through the snow towards a vague dark spot. The spot was getting larger which was a good sign. It meant the dark spot was either a very large rock or the jumper. A few minutes latter it was conformed. He decided that he would check out the damage before grabbing the others. He was shocked when he did see it clearly. The jumper was sitting flipped over. Behind it you could still see trenches made it had dug through the snow.

"She totaled my jumper." He ran his had through his hair. He didn't even know that you could flip a jumper like that. He came up and spread his finger across the door. Some how he could tell that the door wanted to open, but the top of the door was imbedded in ice. It would take to long for him to chip ice away from the door alone so he takes one last look at the jumper and follows his tracks back to the snow cave walking through the drifting snow.

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**Author's Note**-_Yet another cliffhanger, I am enjoying the review a lot. They encourage me to post more frequently. Well I am watching it snow while writing, it is nice. I feel sorry for those of you in climates were snow is not a regular winter fixture. I live for the cold. Now for the factoid of the post-if you are very stuck in the middle of an ice storm and you are worried about getting frost bite on your face you could easily prevent it by smearing your mucus across your nose, ears, and other exposed skin. Now the reason this works is the latent heat of fusion that water has. As the water on your face freezes it warms your face just enough to keep it from becoming frost bite. If you find this interesting pm me and I will figure out a way to get you the graphs that prove it works._


	12. Chapter 11: Ice and Ice

"You have six milligrams of Samarium 147 which has a half life of 106 billion years. If the Samarium was formed on the big bang would you have any left or would it become Neodymium 143?" Wage said quickly from the front.

"What?" Mckay sounded confused.

"You have six milligrams of Samarium 1…"

"I get that. But what do you want?"

"The answer."

"You want me to answer a question about radioactive decay, in the middle of a cave on some ice planet?"

"Yep. You were starting to hyperventilate again. I figured getting you to start using your mind might help with your claustrophobia." Wage spoke as he continued to trudge through the cave.

"But why would you want to use radioactive isotopes? What's the logic after all you're a geologist."

"What is wrong with a geologist using isotopes, after nuclear physicists and some types of chemists, geologists use isotopes the most. Don't quote me on that. But we do use radioactive isotopes a lot."

"Oh," Mckay voice dropped into silences. The only thing you could hear was the squish of feet and drops of water trickling from the ceiling. "5.224328 mg,"

"Hmm," Wage said from the front.

"There would be 5.224328 mg of Samarium 147 and .77547 mg Neodymium 143." Mckay explained. In the darkness you could almost see Wage smile.

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Sheppard was mildly surprised when he came up to camp and spotted a tent set up, and Eric cooking over the small camp stove.

"So Ronan, found a sled." Sheppard warmed his fingers over the stove.

"Not just that." Eric smiled brightly up at him. "Check out the snow cave."

Sheppard pushed away the tarp covering the entrance and peeked inside. Lark was on the far side tuck into his sleeping bag. But there was a second figure wrapped in a sleeping bag along with several foil emergency blankets. They were propped up against Tim's chest. Sheppard would not have been able to recognize the figure through the layers except for a few long strains of pale colored hair peeking out from the hood.

"He found Bec."

"Yep, apparently she got one of the sleds off of the ice before it broke." Eric smiled back.

"How?" Sheppard remembered what the icy water had looked like.

"Actually we don't know how she did it. All we know is she got the sled, Ronan was attacked by this large lion thing, Bec shot it, and then passed out. She hasn't quite woken up yet." Eric kind of looked down at the pot he was stirring.

"Ronan was attacked."

"I didn't tell you that?"

"No." Sheppard looked annoyed.

"Well he was attacked by this large lion thing. He was kind of banged up. He is in the tent right now. I think he is asleep."

"I will go check on him then. But first I have news of my own I have found the Jumper. The problem is part of the door is embedded ice. We are going to have to figure out a way to get it open."

Eric looked up at Sheppard and nodded. "I will go wake up Tim." He got up to look into the snow cave, while Sheppard moved to unzip the tent.

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"I believe that the snow is letting up." Teyla was standing outside of the tents looking up at the thinning clouds. "I believe we should leave soon."

"Yes sir," The marine at her side said in agreement. With in a half hour the they had all eaten and the tents and sleeping bags were loaded onto the sleds.

"Where should we head ma'am?" another marine asked.

"There." Teyla pointed towards a set of mountains. She took the lead, followed by the marine helping Zelenka, the one pulling the sled, and the marine keeping an eye on their six.

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"How are we going to get this thing open?" Sheppard asked as Tim and Eric were crouched down looking for a way to melt though the inches of ice.

"What if we used the heating backs?" Eric said.

"Yeah, we could cut it open and shake it out the beads. That way we could cover more area." Tim agreed.

"Is that going to cut it?" Sheppard was not convinced the little chemical heat packs they brought would melt that much ice.

"It probably won't be enough, but that is what knifes are for." Tim had already pulled out his dive knife from his belt.

"We are going to dig?" Eric asked.

"We are going to dig." Tim said decisively.

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"Do we know were we are going?" A marine asked.

"Yes." Wage said.

"How?" Albert asked from the end of the line.

"Simple, follow the compass."

"But I have the compass." Mckay was started from the middle.

"Does your compass glow in the dark?" Wage asked pointedly.

"No, but…"

"Can you see what it says right now?"

"I don't even have it out." Mckay admitted.

"That is why we are using mine." Wage said simply. "It is imbedded in my watch and has glow in the dark strips that let me see it caves. So we are not lost. And no I am not giving it to you. If you want one you are going to have to order it next time we make a call to earth."

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Ronan was once again stuck in the snow cave, this time he was the protector of the two injured members of the team. Lark had woken up twice. He had been very disoriented but Ronan had gotten some water into him before he had drifted out again. Bec on the other had had coughed a lot and wheezed until he had propped her up but hadn't bothered waking up yet. Ronan kind of wondered how he got nurse duty. Yes he got in a fight with a large cat creature, but the scratches weren't that deep. Tim seemed better suited for this, even Sheppard seemed better to dealing with people with this hypothermia. Give him war injuries, blood, gore and Ronan knew what to do. Give him a delirious marine in a sleeping bag and an unconscious, coughing female in a snow cave and well he had no clue what to do.

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"I think I will just about do it." Tim chiseled the last of a trench to free the door. It popped open a bit then the door wedged against the ice again. "Great. That just great." Tim muttered sarcastically when the door stopped. He had misjudged the ice.

"Air smells very stale." Eric said as he continued to work on the ice around the door.

"Anyone in there?" Sheppard yelled into the crack. There wasn't a response so the all kept digging.

"I think it is coming lose." Tim commented, just before the door sprung open catching him in its upward swing.

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It had been over a day and a half on Atlantis and people were starting to get antsy. The sun was setting over the ocean. Once again Dr. Beckett found Weir staring at the gate.

"How are you doing love?"

"Alright Carson. They are the only one out."

"Aye, I know that Major Lorne's team came in last night."

"Do you thing they are okay?"

"I am sure of it, love." Behind them the stargate spiraled into life.

"In coming wormhole." The gate tech said unnecessarily. "Receiving Teyla's IDC."

"Deactivate the shield." Weir ordered. The tech nodded and a few moments later Teyla followed by a marine helping Zelenka and another pulling a sled come through the gate. The coats were flecked with snow. Beckett and Weir quickly made there way down the stairs to greet them. Weir went up to Teyla and started to ask question while Beckett went to help Zelenka peel off his oxygen mask and sat him down on the edge of the sled.

"Dr. Wage said that he got Altitude sickness." Teyla told Beckett.

"Is this right lad?" Beckett asked, Zelenka shrugged.

"Where are the others?" Weir asked Teyla.

"We split up. It was clear that Zelenka would not be able to finish the journey so Mckay, the geologists and the other marines went a head, while we camped and waited for Zelenka to regain enough strength to return to the gate."

"When did you have the last contact with the other team?"

"It was before the storm came."

"Umm, As much as I would love to talk right now I would really like to get these people down to infirmary." Carson said behind them.

"Of course." Weir stood back and allowed Carson and his medical personal guide Teyla and her team down the infirmary.

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"I think we have a problem," Wage said as he looked straight a head.

"What. What is it?" Mckay asked as he pushed his way to the front.

"Isn't that the dampener?" Wage pointed at a glowing ancient pedestal thing.

"Yes…oh." Mckay's face fell.

"Yes, 'oh'." The team had found the dampener and it was clearly imbedded in one of the glaciers.

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**Author's Note**-_Sorry it took me so long to post again. Unfortunately I have a real life that I have to worry about. If I had a choice I would be doing a lot more writing. Well here is your fact of the post. Geologists do use a lot radioactive isotopes to date things. You probably know of one of the methods-carbon dating._


	13. Chapter 12: C4

The chamber that lead to the dampener was brighter then the rest. The light from the machine reflected through the ice of the glacier. Most of the light though was blocked by two figures hacking at the ice, while the others lay in the tents and tried to sleep.

"This isn't working." The words broke the silence.

"Of course it is soldier. Haven't you ever worked in a mine before?" Wage continued to hack at the ice with the ice pick they had packed.

"No sir." The marine raised his ice pick again and brought it down on the surface.

"To bad for you. Why don't you think this is working?" Wage took his swing at the ice face.

"It just is to slow, sir. We will be lucky if we dig it out by next week."

"Well it is not like we have another option. We don't have anything to heat up the…wait." Wage put down his ice pick and turned to the tents. "Hey Mckay, Mckay. Yes, Mckay."

"What do you want?" Mckay grumbled sleepily.

"Mckay did you happen to pack any C4?"

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"Ow" Tim lowered himself from the door of the jumper and quickly realized why no one had helped him down. They were three bodies in the back of the jumper. He had the sinking feeling that they had not made it in time. He was relived when he heard the man propped up against the wall, the one with the mangled leg breathed a harsh breath. Then the women bent protectively over the other man raised her head. She looked at them with pained and despondent eyes.

"He's dead." She said softly and stroked the hair of the man who head she had in her lap.

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"Everyone cleared out?" Wage asked.

"Yep." Albert said, his voice echoing in the cave.

"Everyone undercover?"

"Yep."

"All equipment stored?"

"Yep…"

"Are your ready to set of the stupid charge already?" Mckay blurted out.

"It's called safety. Last time I checked you were big on it in the labs. Well welcome to my lab. We are going to play by my rules." Wage said preparing the charge. "Everything ready, Albert?"

"Yep."

"Okay, FIRE IN THE HOLE." Wage placed the charge and high tailed it to the tunnel. There was a blinding flash and the sound reverberated through the caverns.

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"Lt. Covington, report." Sheppard leaned over and placed his hand under her chin, so he could see her eyes. The stared back at him vaguely. Bruising and bandages covered her face.

"He is dead." She repeated.

"This is just great." Sheppard vented. "It looks like we have a concussion, and she is going into hypothermia. What is the status of the others?"

"The Dr. Larsen, the biologists, is messed up but he is alive." Tim said pulling out bandages from his pack to replaces the soaked through ones.

Eric paused before saying anything. "Corporal Gary, is dead sir. He has been dead for a while." He was pulling out am emergency blanket to place over the body.

"We are going to have to create a warm place for these people. I don't think they could survive sever hypothermia in there current states." Tim said as he continued to bandage the biologist.

"We could put them in the front section with a heater, and then put up emergency blankets to block the entrance so the heat doesn't escape." Sheppard stated to guide Nat towards the front of the jumper. "It probably would be wise to bring everyone to one spot as well. Cooper can you make you way back to the snow cave and bring back Ronon and the others."

"Aye, sir." Eric brought his scarf over his nose and made his way into the snow.

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"Wage, Wage are you okay?" Albert coughed unable to see through the dark and dust after having his night vision ruined.

"I am fine, I found a rock." Wage replied hoarsely.

"What does he mean he found a rock? I mean we are surrounded by rocks. We are in a stupid cave!!!"

"It means that Wage found a rock to hide behind, Mckay."

"Oh."

"Shall we see our handwork?" Wage turned over to stare at the ceiling while the dust began to settle.

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"How are they doing?" Weir came up behind Beckett.

"Quite good actual. They are a bit chilled, but that is to be expected. The temperature was quite cold on the planet. I have already released most of the team, but I am keeping Dr. Zelenka overnight for observation. He was severely dehydrated and nauseas."

"What was wrong with him?"

"It turns out that Radek is prone to altitude sickness."

"Doesn't that happen when you climb mountains?"

"Aye, but it can also happen when you travel through the gates. Different planets have different air pressure."

"Does that mean that he has that problem every time that the he travels through the gate?"

"Aye, it is possible he feels nauseous when he travels through the gate more then the rest of us, but it is only dangerous if he goes to planets with low pressures."

Weir nodded and filed that under things that she needed to take in account when she prepared teams for missions.

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"It looks good. All we need to do is clean out the debris and set another few charges." Wage said stroking his hand along the seam in the ice.

"We have to do this again?" Mckay asked, he had not enjoyed the first explosion. It didn't give him any confidence in the structural integrity ceiling.

"Yep," Albert said simply. "But it worked out a lot better then I thought it would. It cleared out a full three or four feet."

"That's about a meter for you Canadians." Wage added in explanation.

"Hey, I would let you know that most of the world used metric. It is only stupid Americans who use the English system." Mckay said hotly.

"And most of the people here are American, it particle American military personal." Wage warned as he started scoping out ice shards.

"What do you mean most everyone but me is American."

"That isn't exactly true."

"What?"

"That isn't exactly true." Wage repeated. "I have kiwi citizenship."

"What?"

"Yes Mckay that means I have New Zealand citizenship so stop complaining about be the only person who is not American." Wage continued to dig. "Mckay why don't grab a nap, before the next blast." Mckay nodded and made his way through the dark towards the tent. After he was out of hearing distance Albert lead over to Wage as he dug.

"Are you going to tell him you're American too? After all you have duel citizenship."

"No, I think I will see how long it takes him to figure it out. After all I do wear the New Zealand flag."

"Why do you wear that one anyway? You spent most of your life in American, and you don't have the right accent."

"Simple, Australians, kiwis and Brits always get invited to the best parties at geology conferences."

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**Author's Note-**_Hello again. Thank you for everyone who reviews, it makes me want to write faster and larger chapter. Now for the real reason that you read the author's note, the factoid-If you are ever at a scientific conference and you want to get into the good parties, (good parties is a relative term different field have different levels of wildness) all you need to do is make friends with the Australians, Kiwis or Brits. If you fall into these categories then you have it already made, and take pity on those of us who are scientist with no social lives._


	14. Chapter 13: Lion, thing

Ronan had insisted on pulling the sled with Lark on top of it. That had left Eric to give Bec a piggy back ride back to the jumper. It never ends amazing him how much more a person weighted when they were limp and unconscious. If they were at least somewhat awake they held on to the person carrying them. To say the least Eric Cooper was very glad when the dark smudge of the jumper came into view and Sheppard relieved him of his burden. It didn't take long to get them everyone resituated in the jumper. The injured in the front with the heater, and Sheppard, Eric, and Tim stayed in the back unheated area of the jumper. Wishing that Mckay would hurry up and deactivate the dampening field, they were starting to get really, really cold.

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"How are you feeling, lad?" Beckett had noticed that his only real patient's eyes were open.

"Better." Radek sighed. "What happened?"

"You got altitude sickness, but it is nothing to worry about now that you are back to a relative sea level your symptoms should be going away."

Radek nodded snuggled a bit deeper into the covers and fell back asleep.

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Inside the front of the jumper it felt like a sauna. But when it is negative twenty-five degrees, the temperature you fridge seems like a sauna. The 'able body' members of the team rotated in and out of the warm section. Tim was on his way out while Sheppard was coming in. They were just updating each while it is warm. Before Tim left Ronon spoke up.

"I think she is waking up." Ronon pointed towards Bec leaning against the window of the jumper. Sure enough in a few moments Bec's eyes flicker open and she stared blurrily at them.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Tim quickly made his way over to his CO. She just stared back at him. "We are going to give you some water, okay?"

Bec nodded. Tim pushed the Bec's scarf away from her face and put a water bottle up to her face. He noticed her cheeks were flushed, and eyes were glazed. Tim tilted the water bottle back to allow a stream of water to flow into Bec mouth. Bec's breath caught and she started coughing violently. She started curling forward as her all of the air emptied her lungs. Tim caught her before she hit the ground. He patted her back and felt the deep shivers up and down her spine as she continued to cough up sickly green slime flecked with blood. As the coughing slowed to harsh swallows of breath, Tim leaned her back on the window. She was already falling back a sleep. Her cheeks were burning bright red and sweat lightly soaked her hair. 'This is just great,' Tim though to himself. 'We have a Lt. so concussed she can't think straight, a biologist who is such a mess he might not make it through the night, Lark who weak as a kitten after becoming hypothermic, and now my CO is running a fever. Could things get worse?'

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"I think one more charge will do it." Wage said hopefully as he scraped ice out of the way again.

"You better be right because it is the last charge I brought." Mckay said distractedly, he was starting to get very claustrophobic.

"At least it will be within realistic digging distance after this charge." Albert said cheerfully. Wage and Mckay both rolled there eyes at him.

"Okay, I ice is clear all we need to do in set it again." Wage said dusting ice chips off his gloves. "Everyone clear out."

"Fine, fine." Mckay and Albert made there way to way towards the sheltered bend in the cavern while Wage sent the charge.

"Okay is everyone under…" Wage started.

"Yes, yes. Everyone is undercover, all equipment is stored, and you can hurry up and set the stupid charge already." Mckay stated quickly.

"Great. FIRE IN THE HOLE." Wage activated the blast cap and ran. There was another bright flash and the sound reverberated through the tunnels. Then the rocks started to come down from the ceiling. "CAVE IN EVERYONE UP THE TUNNEL."

In the chaos no one noticed that the flashlights worked.

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"Redial M6B-115." Weir ordered another of the routine check up in hopes that Mckay had deactivated dampening field.

"Dialing gate to the ice planet." Chuck the gate tech said as his fingers hit the controls. "Connection locked." Weir stared at the blue vortex of the wormhole and activated her radio.

"Dr. Mckay, Colonel Sheppard, do you read?" I repeat Dr. Mckay, Colonel Sheppard, do you read?" Weir was about to turn to learn the weather readings from the MALP when here radio cracked into life.

"_Um, Weir we are a tad bit busy at the moment. Can you call back later?_" At that the control room erupted into cheers until the sound of gunshots were transmitted through the radio, then the connection when dead.

"Colonel Sheppard. Colonel Sheppard, please respond." There was just static on the radio. "Major Lorne, Dr. Beckett report to the Jumper room immediately. We have an emergency situation.

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"Sheppard." There was a sense of urgency in Eric voice. "I think we have attracted some unwanted attention."

"What?" Sheppard came to the entrance of the jumper and looked were Eric pointed. There were large lion like creature approaching though the snow.

"It would appear that we have found Ronan's attackers friends."

"This is just great. Tim we need you out here now." He yelled into the jumper before pulling out his P-90 and aimed it at the approaching animals.

"_Dr. Mckay, Colonel Sheppard, do you read?" I repeat Dr. Mckay, Colonel Sheppard, do you read?"_ Cracked over his head set.

The beasts were approaching Sheppard really didn't have time to talk. "Um, Weir we are a tad bit busy at the moment. Can you call back later?" The shot a volley of bullets, it didn't stop them animal's progression. The head lion pounced on him, dislodging his radio and leaving Sheppard staring at its bloody mussel.

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**Author's Note**-_Random fact time! If you are ever looking for a strange creature to throw into one of your stories try one of not so famous prehistoric animals. You don't have to go back all that far either. If you want a strange mammal you can try the carnivores kangaroos, a marsupial lion, or maybe an Irish Elk (those are extra cool because they had a six foot rack, hunters dream right there). Birds on the other had things like the Terror Bird (twelve to fifteen feet tall ran on two legs and hunted among other things saber tooth cats), or maybe an Teratorn (best described as a large stork/vulture). Lizards are easy you have all of the dinosaurs to choose from as well as several creatures related to the crocodile, were water dwelling or flew. My only tip is don't use the T-Rex in your stories, instead try something like the Gigantosaurs it is about twice the size and can use it's front limbs._


	15. Chapter 14: Down to the wire

Tim Hendricks let off a volley of bullets at the lionish thing that was attacking Sheppard when Ronon came tearing from the front of the jumper blade held high over his head cutting down the beast. Ronon and Eric then stepped forward to prevent more of the big cats from getting into the jumper proper. Tim moved to shove the cat off of Sheppard while he activated his radio.

"Dr. Weir, we need another Jumper _now_!" Sheppard's clothing was deep red with congealing blood, but Tim could tell whose blood it was. So he searched cuts in the clothing to find scratches on the skin. Tim swore. "Sheppard you better stay with us." He muttered mainly to himself.

"_What is going on?_"

"Sheppard played hero again and we have got another medical emergency." He almost yelled into his radio. Tim had pulled out his dive knife and was slicing his shirt searching for deep tares in the skin.

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"_Sheppard played hero again and now we have got another medical emergency_." Tim voice on the radio seemed almost frantic.

"What?" Dr. Weir said unconsciously.

Beckett stepped up behind her and spoke urgently into the radio. "Tim lad, please put Dr. Thomason on the radio."

"_I am sorry I can't do that. She got herself to a bit of a mess and is out cold for the moment. What can I do?"_

That explains a lot, Carson thought to himself. They have managed to injure there medic, and the poor lad is military. He probably knows how to deal with gunshots and knife wounds, but other injuries might not be as easy for him to understand. "Listen son, I need you to tell me what types of injuries that they have sustained. We will be coming as quick as we can but I need to have the equipment to be prepared."

"_Yes sir. Um, we have one severe head injury and possibly two others. The biologist, Stephen is in pretty bad shape he has a broken leg as well as bruising all over. I think Bec might have a respiratory infection. She is having trouble breathing and coughing up guck. Lastly Sheppard has just been mauled by a native lion creature. We have a whole group of them surrounding the jumper and we can't get the door close. The stupid thing froze open."_

"Okay son, this is what I want you to do. I need you to put pressure on the injuries to stop the bleeding. We will be there in…" Beckett turned to the tech working the controls for the gate.

"Twenty minutes."

"Lad, we will be there in twenty minutes. All you need to do is keep everyone breathing until we get there."

There was a pause then the radio cracked. _"I will try."_

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"_Lad, we will be there in twenty minutes. All you need to do is keep everyone breathing until we get there."_ Tim listened to Beckett's voice over the radio. He wished he could make a promise that he could protect the people in the jumper, but all he could convince himself to say was.

"I will try." Then Tim turned to Eric and Ronan protecting the open jumper door. "You heard Dr. Beckett. He said that he will be here in twenty minutes we just need to keep fighting till then."

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They had decided to take two jumpers. The first was filled with Carson's medical equipment, two medical techs, and a half dozen marines. The second jumper would give them enough space to evacuate everyone comfortably at one time. Major Lorne just hoped that they would make it in time to use this equipment.

"I have them jumper on sensors, it appears we have, we have eight life signs." There was a sigh of relief.

"Wait, son. Shouldn't there be nine? There were three on the jumper when it crashed and Sheppard's team had six people on it." Beckett did the math in the co-pilots seat.

"We have lost one?"

"Aye, can you make this thing fly any faster?"

"I can try, sir. Either way we will be landing in a few minutes."

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The hungry lion creatures were circling but they had quickly learned to stay out of range of Ronan's big sword. They were biding there time, making lunges, trying to wear them down. It was working. The two had been up for over twenty four hours and traveled many miles and there is only so much human body could take. Eric reactions were slowing.

"You holding up." Ronan asked.

"It is not like I have a choice. It is either stay focus or get eaten. Personally I have a thing about getting eaten." Eric said nervously. Ronan just nodded. They were both really relived when they saw the jumper coming low over the horizon, but that laps in concentration allowed to lions to approach closer. It took them several minutes to force them back to a more conformable level.

"Think we are going to make it." Eric said hopefully.

"I think you are right." Ronon replied sweeping his sword through the air. "I think you are right."

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"We are landing sir." Lorne said from the front as he tried to hover the jumper to keep it from skidding across the ice. "Man the jumpers a mess, I didn't know you could flip them."

"Well lad you can flip a car, why not a spaceship." Beckett commented.

"Okay, we are touching down…now. Marine's deploy."

The back of the jumper came down and the marines poured out guns at the ready. Beckett grabbed his bag and followed close behind.

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The lion creatures were getting bolder and were trying to sneak around the sides of the jumper. It was getting harder and harder to keep them out. Eric and Ronon just hope that they would be able hold out long enough for the reinforcements. They hear what sounded like the whir of a landing jumper. Please let them get here fast Eric thought. He was good at getting in and out, but not defending a jumper from a pack of twenty or thirty, meter and half tall lionish creatures who wanted to eat them. They were relieved when they heard more gunshots and the creatures slowly were force to retreat. Never in his live had Eric been so glad to see Dr. Beckett tracking them down.

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"You alright lads?" Beckett asked as he made his way across the blood covered snow field.

"We are okay?" Eric said.

"Right." Ronan agreed.

"Sheppard?" Beckett began to question.

"Sheppard's in the main area of the jumper, the other injured are in the front of the jumper." Eric spilled out.

"Thank you lad." Beckett turned to into the jumper to find Sheppard soaked in blood under the ministration of Tim Hendricks. It didn't take long for his medical techs to make it into the jumper. They stood a bit shocked by the amount of blood. "Go get the patients in the front of the jumper prepared for transport and get them in the working jumpers. The most critical go in the jumper you just came in. It will be taking off first." Outside the second jumper was landing the marines were making sure the battle had been won.

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**Author's Note**-_I am a bit sad I only have one more chapter and a epilogue. But now for the happy factoid of the day.  It takes six pound of pressure to break the nose and 12 pound of pressure to break the collar bone, bones like a femur take between 1200 and 1800 pounds of pressure to break. Now you say could a person break a femur. Yes black belts in some martial arts can kick with up to 2000 pounds of pressure. _


	16. Chapter 15: Becket to the rescue

"We need some marines here." A medical tech yelled from the front. A few marines quickly answered the call and were directed to help carry the bundled patients to the various jumpers. One of the medics when to report to Carson Beckett.

"Sir."

"What is it, Karri?" He looked up from bandaging Sheppard. Carson had been very relieved that the damage would not be as bad at it first appeared. True the claw marks would require stitches and a lot of cleaning, but John was not at risk of bleeding out.

"We need to send four patients in the jumper."

"What are their conditions?"

"Male with broken leg and cracked ribs, semiconscious, mild hypothermia. Male sustained severe hypothermia approximately eight hours ago, still disoriented. Female with severe concussion, mild hypothermic, unconscious. Female with respiratory infection, believed to have gotten wet, unconscious."

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The dust had settled. And people were picking themselves off the floor.

"Everyone okay, Wage you alive?" Albert started looking at the wall of fallen rocks filling the cavern in front of them.

"Yes I am fine. I am back here." Wage was starting to pick himself up. When he put weight on his left foot he hissed. "I think I might have sprained my ankle."

"Anyone else injured? We all here?" Albert asked. There were several murmurs in the affirmative.

"What are we going to do now?" A marine asked. "It looks like the cavern leading to the dampener is completely blocked off."

"We had back." Mckay said simply.

"But sir, the mission."

"Did you get hit in the head with a rock, soldier?" The marine looked puzzled at him. "Look notice the flashlights are working. Good, that means that we have shut down the dampening field. That means we can head home."

"Why haven't we been contacted via radio yet?" The marine questioned.

"Simple. Radio waves don't travel though rock. The will contact us as soon as we get to the surface. So lets get going a not keep Atlantis worried." Albert said.

The grabbed what they could and followed their tracks to the surface.

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It turned out that they were able to squeeze the entire original into the jumper. Lark and Stephen were given the benches. Natalie was stretched on a backboard on the floor. Ronan and Eric were seated behind the pilot while Tim sat on the floor behind them Bec propped up in his lap to help her breath.

There was a rush of people in the jumper bay as they landed. The four patients requiring stretchers hurried off towards the infirmary. Sheppard, who had woken up during the flight and Ronan were dragged off in wheelchairs. The rest of the team was given food, hot chocolate, a fresh uniform and a chance to shower before they we ushered into the infirmary for their check up. Then the second jumper arrived full of marines and the body of Corporal Gary Richards. Finally Dr. Weir was able to slip away to the infirmary.

"How they doing?" Weir walked up to Beckett as he looked into the ward. He glanced toward her.

"We will see. Lt. Covington has brain swelling that we are trying to relieve with medication. Dr. Larson is also in the ICU. His leg required surgery and he had two floating ribs. It was a miracle that they didn't puncher anything. The thing that makes me nervous is the fact Dr. Thomason came back with a case of pneumonia. I am keeping everyone in the infirmary until I can be sure they won't have a similar reaction to hypothermia."

"Keep me informed."

"Aye, Elizabeth has there been any word from Rodney's team."

"No not yet, I will call you as soon as we have made contact."

"Thank you, lov."

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"Hi," Bec opened her eyes.

"Hello the lass how are you feeling?" Beckett asked way to chipper in Bec's opinion.

"Okay, other then the fact I seem to be wired up like an astronaut." Which was true Bec was on oxygen, had an IV and had a half dozen wires running under her scrubs. "What did I do this time?"

"What do you remember, lov?

"Not much it all is kind of blurry. There was a lot of ice and snow, like Antarctica, but mountains more like the Rockies, and there was the Jumper. Oh my, the jumper we need to get the jumper." Bec weakly pulled against the wires.

"It is okay lass, we have them in the ICU."

"Wage." Bec settled back into the pillows.

"The team has not gotten back yet. But they should be home soon. It is a bit early for them yet." Beckett somewhat lied. The had not been to contact Mckay's team for the two days after the dampening field had been shut down, but there was no reason to worry his patient.

"Team?"

"Your team is doing well, but they will be staying here for a while. It appears that you had a cold when you left and you passed that on."

"Sorry."

"Nothing to be worried about lass, your cold got the worst of you. You caught a case of bacterial pneumonia. It doesn't look like anyone caught that off of you and you have reacted well to IV antibiotics. Now that your fever has broken I was going to have ya move to the ICU for a bit more monitoring. By this time tomorrow you should be feeling much better."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it lass. Get some sleep." Bec's eyes dropped closed as Carson walked out of the isolation room. Now that his last patient had woken up he was confident everyone was going to make a full recovery. It might be a bumpy road, but they would make it.

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"Are you sure that we are going in the right direction?"

"Yes, Mckay I am."

"Because Wage it seems that it is taking a lot longer to go out then it took to get in."

"That is because you are anticipating it." Albert offered.

"Like Disneyland." The marine that was helping Wage walk on his badly sprained ankle said brightly.

"Why would I anticipate Disneyland? I lived in Canada."

"They Disneyland in other countries and a lot of foreigners come to visit there."

"But why would I waste time going their."

"We went there for physic day for school."

"You from California?" Albert asked.

"Yes, sir. It was great. Nothing like this though. I didn't see snow until I went to college."

"Great we have a clueless cold weather person on our team." Mckay grumbled.

"Hey, Mckay I have something to keep your mind off of that." Wage said happily.

"What?"

"There's the opening. Try your radio now."

"This is Dr. Mckay calling to anyone."

"_Dr. Mckay?"_ The radio cracked.

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"Ignore that last comment. We are activating our avalanche beacons now." Wage comment with Mckay rolling his eyes behind them.

"_We are picking up on you sir. We will be picking you up with a jumper in a few minutes."_

"That would be greatly appreciated. Wage out." Wage then turned to Mckay. "See we will be back to the city in no time."

They crawled out of the cave onto the snow and were soon spotted by the approaching jumper.

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"Wage great to see you, man." Tim perked up seeing his teammate coming even though he was limping and was supported by Albert and a marine.

"Good to see you guys too. What have you been up to?" The medical staff ushered Wage to a bed and started closing the partitions.

"O, you know. Climbing over glaciers, and trudging through frozen marshes. Basically the normal. You?"

"Glaciers, we spent a far amount of time in a cave. It was, ouch…that hurt could you be careful with that." The medical tech apologized.

"What else did you do?" Tim asked quickly.

"Um, we figured out you could use C4 to smash through glaciers."

"That is pretty cool."

"What about Bec? She already get released?"

"Nope, she just got out of isolation and is currently in the ICU."

"She okay?"

"I think so. You know Bec though she seems to like to keep her title as the most accident prone female."

Wage winced. "What did she do this time?"

Eric spoke up. "Fell into a crevasse, got a migraine, got wet, disappeared for a few hours, and caught pneumonia. Did I get everything?"

"Yep, I think you did." Sheppard gave a loop sided smile.

"What type of cave did you guys find?" Tim asked, relived that the rest of the team was finally at home base.

"A dark one." Mckay entered the infirmary looking muddy and grumpy.

"It was a limestone fault cave." Wage ignored Mckay comment.

"We were in a fault. Like earthquake fault we could have been squished." Mckay was edging towards panic.

"Oh, limestone. Limestone a plutonic igneous rock, right." Tim said quickly

"Right, right." Eric smiled, "You can tell it because of the big crystals."

"I didn't see any crystals." Mckay said confused to the nurse taking his blood.

"Be nice." Bec voice came from the direction of the ICU.

"Yes mom." Tim yelled back.

"How does she do that?" Eric asked Tim who just shrugged.

"But I didn't see any crystals." Mckay said still confused.

"That is because there isn't any." Albert said.

"What?"

"There aren't any crystals. Limestone is a chemical sed rock. The particles in it are too small to see with the naked eye unless you are working with an oolitic limestone or a fossilforse limestone, but I can see you real aren't interested in that." Albert saw the blank stare on Mckay's face.

"Geologists are weird."

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"Can I leave yet? I am feeling fine." Tim asked but the fact he sneezed before Dr. Beckett could reply.

"No you can't lad. I hate to break it to you but you are going to be staying with us for a few more days." Beckett said writing on his chart.

"Why?" He wined.

"You know why lad. You and Sheppard caught Dr. Thomason's cold."

"But she got to go."

"Aye, she got released to her quarters because she is staying in isolation there and I know she will actually stay and sleep." Beckett turned to Sheppard who opened his mouth. "And don't tell me otherwise Sheppard. You have proven to me that I will find you on some balcony or in your office in a few hours after I let you out." Sheppard promptly shut mouth and looked back at his open copy of War and Peace.

"Fine." Tim said annoyed. "But Bec better visit us after causing all of this," Tim sneezed again. "All of this, well getting us stuck in the infirmary."

"I am sure she will visit you as soon as I will let her." Beckett walked to the office.

"Well it was worth a try." Tim shrugged.

"It looks like I get your lunch jell-o, Lark. That was the bet." Stephen stretched his arms and looked at his down at his cased leg.

"I guess you won it fair and square. What flavor do you want?" Lark said from his corner.

"Anything but banana. I cannot believe that the people invented that flavor, and even more I can't believe someone at the SGC sent it to us."

"I don't know, I know it is one of the few Mckay won't eat. Maybe they hoped that we won't run out, again, after all lime, lemon, and banana are the only flavors he doesn't like." Sheppard commented as he pretended to be busy with his book.

"I think that is because no one likes those flavors." Tim added.

"Hey, Nat you haven't said much." Stephen looked over Natalie Covington whose head was looking away from them.

"Hm," Natalie turned her head to look at them.

"Nat, you have to say something to us."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you have to. You haven't been yourself. Usually you would have some strange fact to say. Ever since the accident you have been silent." The underlying unsaid message was Nat, we are worried about you, please snap out of this.

"Fine," Nat closed her eyes and thought. "Well, the State of Utah has an official Jell-o flavor."

"That is different, what flavor is it." Tim said his eyes blinking heavily.

"Green."

"Nat, that isn't a flavor." Stephen looked at her, wondering if there had been any brain damage.

"Tell that to the Utah Legislator. They were the ones who name that."

"Any other strange facts that you think would be interesting?" Sheppard gave up reading stretched and pulled up the covers a bit.

"New Jersey State soil type is Downer."

"States can have state soil types?" Tim asked.

"Hm," Nat turned his head away from the group and closed her eye.

"That is weird." Stephen shrugged. "People at home have to much time on there hands."

They were all asleep when Beckett came out to check on them a few minutes later. He smiled. There was a sense in the room that his patients were going to be okay.

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**Author's Note**-_Now that the story is almost done; only the epilogue left, you now have the opportunity to decide what type of story you would like next. I would really like to know. Who do you want in the story? Who do you want whumped? What type of setting would you like? What factoids do you want in the author's notes? I will listen do what you guys would like to read. _

_Well to the fact, geologists have a short hand. I will teach you the basics you can understand geologist field notes. Sed-sedimentary; Meta-metamorphic; Ig-igneous; Rox-rocks. You pronounce it that way to._


	17. Epilogue: Healing

"Lieutenant, I am giving you the option to go home." Sheppard had just been released and stood next to Natalie Covington's bed. "Dr. Stephen Larsen will be returning to Earth because of medical reason, you also have that option." Nat looked up at her commanding officer slightly confused. "You have four days to make a decision and then the Daedalus will be returning to Earth." Sheppard left leaving Nat's mouth still slightly a gap.

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"Sheppard, what did you say to her?" Carson caught Sheppard when returned to the infirmary an hour or so later.

"Say to whom?"

"To Lt. Covington." Carson was flustered.

"I told her she had the option to return to earth on medical leave. I can't afford to have a pilot who is afraid to fly. Why?"

"She is missing." Carson said flatly. "I have already talked to Weir and have started a search for her. I haven't given a station wide announcement because I was a tad bit worried about her mental state. She did just have one of her closest friends die in her lap."

"It wasn't her fault."

"Aye, it was that stupid damping field, but you of all people should know that guilt is not always rational."

"I will help you look."

"Good lad. I have already sent people to check her quarters, the mess, labs, and jumper bay, and Rodney is performing scans to see if anyone has gone out to the piers."

"I will start to check the balconies." Sheppard said hurriedly as he headed out. Beckett while to trying to organize a search.

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Bec heard some one knocking on her door; she put her music on pause, rolled out bed and went to answer it. "Yes." Lt. Natalie Covington was standing there a uniform jacket over her scrubs. "Are you supposed to be out of the infirmary?"

"No really." Nat admitted. "Can I come in?" The military officer was pale and still looked shaky.

"Yes, come in. But I need to call Dr. Beckett. He tends to freak out a bit when his patients disappear." Bec motion to a chair for Nat to sit in, noticed that there was a rock on it, moved the rock and again motioned for Nat to sit and plopped down on the bed. "What brought you here?"

Nat looked blankly at Bec dressed in purple snowman pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt with gray pine trees covered with snow on a light gray back ground. She shrugged. "I don't know?"

"Sound like a case of cabin fever, to me. Often happens when you get stuck in the infirmary for to long. I will call Dr. Beckett tell him were you are. Why don't you grab a sweatshirt and sit on the balcony for a bit. Get some fresh air."

Nat nodded and chose a black shirt that stated in bold letters Paddle or Die, then walked out to the balcony. She was joined in moments latter by Bec. "I just talked to Beckett, you gave him quite a scare, but I told him you were fine and I will let you stay until he gets here." Nat just nodded again. "Is there anything you want to talk about? I mean girl to girl."

"They are letting me go home on the Daedalus." Nat said flatly.

"Is that what you want?"

"I don't know."

"Think about it. If you do decide to stay, I would be happy to have you on my team. You won't even have to fly if you didn't want to. We can always drag Sheppard it to doing that for us. I command a team of earth scientists and a climatologist would always be welcome." There was a knock on the door. "I believe that would probably Dr. Beckett coming to collect you. Think about what I said, if you are looking for port you can a ways consider the HOG Team, as long as you realize we are all a bunch of miss fits."

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"The Daedalus is leaving today. Are you ready?" Sheppard found Nat on a balcony overlooking the east pier.

"Yes, I think I am. I am going to stay." She looked long and hard at the ocean before looking at Sheppard's face.

"You sure you are ready for it?"

"Yes, I think I have found myself a port. I have been invited to work on climatology models here on Atlantis."

"Are you considering staying a pilot?"

"I don't know. For now I think I will keep my feet on the ground." Nat sighed and looked back at the ocean. "It wasn't my choice to fly, and unlike you I don't need it to survive. I am a scientist first and now I have the chance to go back to being a scientist."

"I think I understand." Sheppard said softly. He had spent enough time with Rodney to understand that there was a difference between a true scientist and a true solider. The scientist needed a level of safety and security when it came to working with people. "I will tell Colonel Cadwell that you will be staying. Nat nodded and continued to stare at the sea.

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**Author's note**-_Another ending, well I hope you enjoyed the story. It was fun to write and thank you so much for reviewing. If you have any tips that could improve my writing please send them. They would be really helpful. Well on to the next adventure._


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